


Cake Pops, Magic Tricks and Pretty Smiles

by seungjin_chan



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Cliche, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, mind the 'Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings' tag, only by a couple of years, pov switching because i'm not talented enough to stick to one, the important thing here is that seungmin is The Man, this is Unrealistic and not well thought out i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2019-09-13 01:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 51,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16882998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seungjin_chan/pseuds/seungjin_chan
Summary: Hyunjin has never tried so hard to get anything; never really wished for anything so badly before, but when Seungmin comes along, he finds himself desperately holding on, for once.Alternatively,Seungmin's been living his whole life wearing a mask to bury away his emotions from the world. Then he meets Hyunjin.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> at first i was so confident this was something decent enough for ao3 but now i feel like this is such an amateur work wow

No matter how many times Hyunjin defends himself from his friends when he's told that he flirts with everyone using his small magic tricks, he still can't seem to convince them that it's really just him admiring beautiful people and just trying to compliment them because they deserve to know—without any malice or motive. Fortunately, they all like the way he gets his compliments through to them and he's happy that he makes people smile with his simple tricks.

One day, a new transfer student steps into class, and upon sight of a really pretty looking boy, his friends' heads are quick to turn to him with all too knowing eyes. He glances at them with a sheepish smile then, innocently nibbling on an already empty stick of cake pop between his teeth before raising his hands defensively and murmuring a quiet _'what? it's no harm'_ so they just shake their heads in amusement, turning back to look at the student being introduced by the professor.

"This is Kim Seungmin."

Hyunjin notices how he looks uninterested at all the girls and boys ogling him, his expression staying blank as he bows and says his short greetings, and it only makes Hyunjin more eager to see how beautiful his smile must be once he shows him a magic trick or two.

"Go find yourself an empty seat," their professor instructs, and while Hyunjin's happy to be surrounded by his group of friends, he suddenly wishes the only seat open was right by his side and not behind him—but he figures that it works too (but he takes a mental note to definitely sit beside the boy next time around, friends be damned).

He takes the chance to turn around in his seat while their professor's engrossed with whatever he's writing on the whiteboard at some point during their class, ignores the simultaneous snorts from his friends, and catches the boy's attention with a smile and a quiet _'hi'._ The response he gets is a simple blink, and for the first time, Hyunjin becomes nervous with the lack of interest the boy shows.

"I'm Hyunjin," he starts, smile never wavering, moving an arm over the back of his own chair to reach closer to the other's desk, "and I think you look pretty."

With a quick turn and a practiced flick of his wrist, a red rose pops up onto his hand, right in front of the boy's face, and—

And Seungmin simply blinks down at it, his expression still blank. There's not a single hint of a smile, or even a look of surprise like Hyunjin's always been used to. He barely looks interested at all and the fact that he's still not taking the rose himself after what feels like forever doesn't really help.

Hyunjin is mortified.

Seconds and seconds pass by with pure silence before he finally finds it in him to clear his throat and awkwardly place the rose down on the boy's desk, turning back around to face the whiteboard, suddenly thankful that the only seat open _wasn't_ by his side as he palms his reddening face in embarrassment for the rest of the hour.

He only gets his confidence back after class when he sees Seungmin stand up from his seat and step out of the room, and when he turns around to check, the rose isn't left on the boy's desk but can instead be seen poking out of his bag as he walks out.

Minho smacks him on the head when he stares at the boy's retreating back in a daze and suddenly claims he's in love, for reasons he can't quite explain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a new purpose in mind along with his newly found infatuation towards the pretty boy, Hyunjin determinedly takes the vacant seat beside Seungmin, who sat by the window, the very next week to finally impress him and win him over before anybody else does (he ignores his friends' constant calls of _'traitor'_  from their usual seats in the back of the classroom).

He never likes to brag about it, but he and his friends are probably one of the most popular groups of friends in their year, even though they don't exactly know how that happened, because they were pretty sure that kind of thing only happens in high school. Naturally, he would know what it's like and he's positive Seungmin was quickly starting to become famous as well, and truth be told, there are a lot of other guys—or girls—who could woo him over and he doesn't like the idea, no matter how un-wooable (as Woojin likes to call it) Seungmin seems to be.

Realizing that he'll only be getting to see him on Tuesdays and Thursdays has made Hyunjin determined to use the rest of the days researching and practicing new tricks for the boy instead, so today, he feels just a bit more confident after having practiced more than usual.

"Hey," he grins, thankful that Seungmin doesn't exactly ignore him and pays attention by looking at him. "It's me again. I have something to show you."

He turns on his side to face the boy (and he wants to believe it's curiosity he sees in his cute eyes for once), placing a palm on top of the other and moving them up and down twice before removing the hand on top to reveal a white little bunny—but he accidentally drops it onto Seungmin's lap and it looks _lifeless_ , and Hyunjin panics.

" _Holy_ —wait did I kill him? Oh my God, this is so messed up I'm so sorry, I'm going to turn myself in -"

"No," Seungmin quietly says, putting his words to a sudden stop, as he carefully lifts the tiny bunny from his lap and places it on his desk, still unmoving.

That's when he slowly starts to realize that it's not actually his pet bunny—instead, it was the small plushie he often used for practice and his dumb self had him forgetting to actually bring the real deal by being too excited to show Seungmin the trick from the moment he got up this morning up until he left the apartment.

And he's absolutely _mortified._

"... Oh," he finds himself palming his face in shame once more, mentally cursing his worthless group of friends as he hears their boisterous hollering and clapping from the back of the room.

Seungmin just stares at him as he seemingly waits for Hyunjin to speak more, albeit still with a blank expression (or was he showing signs of confusion and amusement? Hyunjin's too busy internally hitting his head on a brick wall to really notice).

"Sorry, that was—oh God," Hyunjin groans and lets his head fall face first onto his desk in embarrassment, immediately lifting it back up anyway after realizing it was painful and regretting it as he rubs his forehead.

"It was supposed to be an actual bunny, I have no idea how I stepped out of the apartment while saying _'bye Snowball, let's surprise Seungmin today!'_ to my pet without realizing I was leaving him and—" he sees Seungmin raise his brows as the corner of his lips quirk up just the slightest bit at his blabbering, and it's barely visible but Hyunjin's pretty sure he's amused by his stupidity now—and as he feels his face heating up at that, he doesn't know whether he should think he just scored a goal or not.

"A—anyway I, just thought—bunnies are really cute, and fluffy, and—" he finally turns to look at Seungmin properly, despite the tips of his ears reddening, "I, uh, think you are, too."

Seungmin just continues to stare at him silently, so he thanks the heavens when their professor walks in just then so he can pretend to focus on whatever he starts blabbering on about, instead of wondering how to jump out the window right there and then.

Naturally, his friends make fun of him as soon as class is dismissed and he kind of wishes the ground would just eat him up, because he looks so _lame_ in front of Seungmin.

Except, when Seungmin stands up to head out, they all see him bringing along the bunny plushie with him, tucked right under his shirt pocket, and they end up going quiet with their mouths falling agape along with Hyunjin.

"... I told you guys I have a chance."

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Just so you know," Hyunjin gains the courage to sit beside Seungmin again with a wide grin, a couple of days later before class starts. "I'm not giving up."

He doesn't know if it's just him trying to convince himself that he's actually starting to get more reactions from the boy, but when he sees another blink and a really, really tiny tilt of the head, he figures maybe he's actually _communicating_ with him now (though, Seungmin _did_ speak one word to Hyunjin the last time) and he's happy about it.

"On making you smile," he answers the silent question, before placing two pieces of blank pastel coloured papers onto the boy's desk and hovering his hands over them.

Seungmin pays attention, staring down at his desk almost curiously, and Hyunjin smiles a little wider at that as he swiftly scrunches up one paper in each hand at the same time and immediately lets them go within a milisecond, revealing two perfectly folded paper cranes sitting on the boy's desk.

He sees a change in Seungmin's eyes then, almost as if he's amazed, and Hyunjin feels proud of himself, finally feeling like he didn't embarrass himself for once.

"There's plenty more where that came from, and you best believe I'm not stopping until I get to see you smile," he states all too determinedly as he nods, but his expression abruptly gets fazed when he sees Seungmin nod a little and hears him murmur a quiet _'okay'_ in response.

Looking away flusteredly, he misses the way Seungmin's lips curve up a bit at the sight of the small handwritings under the cranes' wings, one stating _'you have no choice'_ and the other stating _'we're now friends'._

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seungmin seems to warm up to him a little bit more ever since that day.

Hyunjin, on the other hand, has become more motivated and determined to learn a bunch of new magic tricks just for the boy because of that and even though he's happy that he gets to show him a trick everytime they have a class together, he's also quite exhilarated everytime he sees Seungmin in the corridors and gets a small _'hi'_ and a tiny wave in return to his boisterous _'SEUNGMIN! HIII!'_ with his arms flailing all around him excitedly.

There was one time Seungmin had to walk up to him to hold his arms and prevent him from hitting any more innocent bypassers and Hyunjin had just giggled sheepishly, and the gentle pinch he got on his cheek after that got him squealing and shaking Chan's shoulders for about an hour that night before the older finally got him to stop and make him lie on his bed to sleep.

Getting to see and talk to Seungmin a little more than just twice a week, even if they're just short instances, makes Hyunjin feel a little special because he's noticed how the boy doesn't seem to be the type of person who likes having friends around a lot, considering he's never once seen him with anyone at all.

He's seen him being approached by adoring girls and boys before—some, with actual letters of confession—and every single time it happens, Hyunjin sees red only for a few seconds because as soon as Seungmin shakes his head and hands them back the letters, or just take a glance at and pass by the people who casually say hi to him like the overly flirty people they are, he feels a sense of accomplishment.

Hyunjin is happy.

It takes him a moment to realize he's said it outloud, out of nowhere, in the middle of eating dinner, when his flatmate seems to be staring at him with an amused look on his face. He coughs and rubs at his nape sheepishly at that before proceeding to eat the last spoonful of his fried rice quietly.

"Mhm, Chris wants to know why," the other male teases as he eats another spoonful of their dinner, and Hyunjin ends up laughing brightly at his statement as he gives the other male a playful kick on the leg under their dining table.

"This is because of your third person speaking habits rubbing off on me. And you already know why, Chan hyung."

Chan grins. "He's a keeper, that one."

Hyunjin raises a brow at that, head tilting to the side in confusion as Chan reaches across the table to feed him his favourite cake pop for dessert, which he happily munches on. "You've had your fair share of short-term crushes before Seungmin, but not one of them has been able to turn you into some sort of high school anime girl in love."

Hyunjin then chokes, immediately taking the stick out from his mouth. "What—"

"Hey, it's true and you know it," Chan continues with a laugh and a small shake of his head, poking at Hyunjin's reddening cheeks after he's finished coughing. "You didn't blush like that before too."

"I'm not blushing!"

But maybe he is, and maybe he has been doing so more often these days because of Seungmin, but even though it should feel strange for him since he considers himself _a manly man_ , it doesn't.

He's the one doing all the approaching and flirting (through magic tricks, so he's proud to say it's not the gross kind of flirting other students do), but he's the one who ends up blushing and squealing all the way home with Chan, who's probably already going deaf at this point.

"Lies. You blush around him so much when he barely even says anything," Chan snorts, so he just pouts, childishly nibbling on the end of the cake pop's stick, because it's true. "It's so obvious in that viral video."

" _Stoppp,_ " his embarrassed whine earns him a big laugh, and he just crosses his arms sulkily.

_He was just so sweet, okay,_ he bites his retort back.

He doesn't know who filmed him and Seungmin earlier today, but the video spread like wildfire amongst all the students and he doesn't know if he should be annoyed or happy about it. To be fair, he _has_ been shamelessly flirting with Seungmin in public so he has less rights to be annoyed, but getting teased for it makes him want to hide inside a rabbit hole.

But it does make him happy, because watching the video makes him feel less like it was just a dream or just a part of his memories. It was solid proof.

He had just been aimlessly wandering around the campus garden this morning while waiting for his next class, but then he caught sight of Seungmin quietly reading a book on one of the benches by himself and Hyunjin practically _sprinted_ his way over to him, excited to show him another new trick, despite the fact that they weren't having a class together just yet.

Seungmin gave him a small wave and let him sit beside him as he closed his book to pay attention, which earned him a big gummy smile in return. He borrowed the book, which the shorter male handed with a tiny tilt of the head, before he slowly flipped through the pages until a red, paper butterfly came fluttering its way up in between them from inside the book.

As he swiftly caught the paper butterfly between two fingers, Seungmin's slightly raised brows made him grin widely, because Hyunjin eventually had a hunch that whenever Seungmin didn't do that, it meant that the magic trick must have been something he's already seen or that it was common, so he's been doing his best to be unique ever since and he's proud to say it's working.

He was handing him the butterfly to keep after that, but Seungmin had just stared at his face for a little while at first, as if studying his features carefully.

Just as Hyunjin tilted his head questioningly, Seungmin fished out a bobby pin from his own pocket, took the paper butterfly and placed it right above Hyunjin's ear, carefully sliding the bobby pin through his locks along with the butterfly to stick it on the side of his head, like a cute little hair accessory.

As clearly as he could see from the video how red he became from the tips of his ears down to his neck, he could also see the small smile gracing Seungmin's lips after Hyunjin had covered his own face with his hands with a bashful laugh.

He wouldn't have seen it if it wasn't for the video, so he's actually thankful for it.

A whistle from Chan suddenly snaps him out of his thoughts, and as he looks up from his food, he sees the older male scrolling through his phone.

"Well would you look at that, it's on Instagram already. You're even tagged."

 

 

 

 

 

 

_'hi there @h.hyunjins did u know hundreds of people have been shipping u and kim seungmin since this morning'_  
_41 minutes ago. 82,436 views._

  
Hyunjin still doesn't know from the username who the student is, but it doesn't matter, so he taps on the like button as a quiet thank you.

He may or may not be disappointed to see that they couldn't tag Seungmin in the post too, but he half expected it because if he, himself, couldn't find Seungmin's account (he can barely count how many accounts he's checked belonging to random university students at this point), others shouldn't be able to either.

Out of curiosity of what the students think of them, he taps on the _'View all 52 comments'_ and reads them one by one as he lies down on the living room couch after his dinner with Chan.

   
_**pwilixxlee** u peeps missed out on a lot if u think this kind of thing only happened this morning_

  
It had 259 likes. Hyunjin taps on the little heart too.

   
_**ujin.k** @h.hyunjins i take back what i said about un-wooable_  
_**sungjihan** WHY AREN'T THEY DATING YET LOOK HOW CUTE TH_  
_**sungjihan** EY ARE OH MY GOD THEY'RE GOING TO MAKE THE CUTEST BABIES IN THE WORLD AND HYUNJINS GON BE THE PREGNANT ONE AN  -_

  
Hyunjin skips over Jisung's essay divided into four comments.

   
_**spear.bean** must be disappointing to see their sasaeng instincts still couldn't find his account @h.hyunjins_

  
He pouts and puffs up his cheeks at that. He really would have loved to see even just a little bit of Seungmin's life in photo form.

   
_**injeongs** hyung u honestly look silly here but he still found u cute he must be the one_  
_**3rachan** hyunjin already placed the bobby pin and butterfly in his box of treasured things. thought you guys oughta know_

  
Chan's already had 119 likes. He then scrolls down to the rest of the comments, rolling his eyes in amusement at his friends' supportiveness.

   
_seungmin only ever notices him u guys im pretty sure he got a thing alrd_  
_why cant i be hyunjin instead_  
_dID I JUST SEE SEUNGMIN SMILE AT THE END OR WAS IT JUST MY MIND PLAYING TRICKS ON ME_  
_they're both going to get hated at tomorrow for sure_  
_gUYS I HAVE NEVER WANTED TO BE SEUNGMIN SO MUCH IN MY LIFE_  
_when will seungmin ever notice me like that cries my letter was rejected im sad_  
_he doesn't even say hi back to me in class it must be nice to be that handsome_  
_they're so sweet together i hope they date soon i'll be the president of the seungjin fanclub_  
_HYUNJIN STANS WHERE YALL AT_  
_will seungmin like me if i learned how to do magic tricks too_  
_do you guys wonder if they're texting rn_

  
Hyunjin pauses at that last comment and blinks in realization.

"Yeah," a voice over his shoulder has him shrieking and jumping from his place on the couch in surprise, phone nearly dropping to the floor, but Chan is unfazed as he continues, "I was wondering when you'd finally get his number. It's been like, almost three months now."

Hyunjin stills. "But we haven't even talked that much yet—"

"Well yeah, that too."

__

 

 

 

 

 

Mindlessly holding onto the stick of an almost forgotten, unwrapped cake pop in one hand, Hyunjin effortlessly ignores all the whispers, murmurs and occasional squeals from all the students he passes by the corridor that morning, his mind too preoccupied to bother because of what Chan had told him the night before.

It made him realize that yes, he and Seungmin haven't actually had a proper conversation before—he didn't even find out through Seungmin what major he was taking. He really needs to up his game. Especially after seeing how many comments there were about being jealous of him because they like Seungmin too.

Part of him thinks that he shouldn't feel worried or threatened at all—even other people say that Seungmin only ever talks to him out of all the students on campus—but a much bigger part of him is lowkey panicking too, because it's not like he knows everything to be absolutely sure that there's no one else out there getting his attention like he is.

_... Well._

Not that he wouldn't be happy just being friends too. For all he knows, Seungmin might actually really be un-wooable.

_It's just a crush after all, right?_

He can be satisfied just being friends with his crush. Then it'll eventually fade away and they'll still be good friends.

_... Right?_

"Ah, who am I kidding," he grumbles, slumping down into his seat and resting his chin atop his desk with a pout.

What kind of "crush" even makes him worry about not getting to be his in the first place.

Hyunjin's had crushes before, but he never really minded it whenever he saw them liking or dating someone else. But imagining Seungmin doing either of those—it upsets him. Very, very deeply.

He sees the familiar figure coming up from behind him to take the seat beside him soon enough (Seungmin's started to do that on his own accord no matter where he was seated during classes now and it still makes his heart flutter), so he immediately sits upright and turns sideways to look at him, once again ignoring all the simultaneous noises from his classmates due to their interaction.

He takes a deep breath.

_If you become friends and eventually become something more, praise the lord._

"Do you, uh," he pauses, stumbling on his own words because his mind just won't quiet down, and he also kind of doesn't know what he's supposed to say - he just knows that he has to do _something_ right now. "I was just wondering—"

_If you become friends and nothing more, you'll just have to deal with it._

"Um, lunch—would you like to, yeah like—together?" he moves his hands around a little too much as he miserably fails to speak a proper sentence, which soon results to his forgotten cake pop dropping onto the floor.

Hyunjin gasps loudly and stares down at his disintegrated breakfast in shock, and even though he feels his face flush in embarrassment, he sees Seungmin pressing his lips together, clearly holding back a seemingly big smile, and Hyunjin still ends up grinning anyway as he covers half of his face in embarrassment, leaning over to clean up his mess.

_Yes._ He just got one step closer to seeing the pretty boy laugh. (Nevermind that it's because of his dumbness.)

"If I get to pick your food, yes."

It is, by far, the most words he's spoken to Hyunjin in one sentence _ever_ , and his astonishment makes him process the words in his head a little too late; their professor already in front of the class telling them to pay attention by the time he realizes he didn't actually understand what he meant.

He doesn't get the chance to ask Seungmin after the period's over either, hearing him quietly murmur something about being late for his next class because of their professor dismissing them late as he quickly dashes out of the room.

__

 

 

 

 

 

He's pretty sure he did hear a 'yes' in the sentence, so he sends a quick _'eating lunch with my prince today'_ and _'pls don't sit next to our table thank u'_ to the group chat with his friends as soon as lunch time comes. He gets three responses almost immediately.

   
_**dibidibidis his name is minho** as you wish little princess_  
_**no. 1 chicken buddy!!** go woo the unwooable hyung is rooting for u_  
_**chrispy fried noodles** soon enough he won't be eating dinner with me anymore too how sad_

  
He then locks his phone with a chuckle, pocketing it quickly before finally heading over to the university's cafeteria, bottom lip tucked in between his teeth as he anxiously looks around for Seungmin.

He catches the attention of a few students at first as he stands there looking like a lost child, but as soon as he spots Seungmin seated by a table, raising a hand to make himself visible, he catches pretty much everyone's attention by almost automatically running all the way to the table with an obnoxious _'Seungminnn!!!'_ and a big smile along with happy, flailing arms.

Despite his dilemma from earlier, he still is excited just getting to be around Seungmin after all, so he can't help it. If he sees the boy from afar, he just _has_ to yell out his name, otherwise he won't get the excitement out of his system.

Seungmin stands up from his seat and effortlessly catches him by the shoulders ( _wow, he's surprisingly strong, I'm in love,_ he thinks) to prevent him from being toppled over the moment he arrives.

But Hyunjin is still giddy and jumpy; still bouncing a little under the slightly shorter male's firm grip.

"I can't believe I'm getting to have lunch with you today, I mean I sort of imposed the whole being friends thing on you but I'm still so glad you actually do consider us friends enough to have lunch with me and dgdbf—"

Seungmin casually pokes something into his mouth then, and as he stills and blinks for a few times, starting to chew on a familiar tasting pastry, he slowly realizes that it's the same cake pop he dropped and couldn't eat this morning.

His eyes widen just the slightest bit, and he's pretty sure if he could see himself right now, he's staring at Seungmin like the lovestruck fool that he is.

"Wait here."

Hyunjin obliges, quietly taking a seat on their table in a daze as he finishes eating his cake pop and watches Seungmin head over to order some food. He then takes out the stick from his mouth and bites back a happy little smile, taking a mental note to keep it in his box of treasured things too as he puts it inside his bag.

Soon enough, he sees Seungmin heading back to their table carrying a tray with two sets of meals—one with burger and fries, which is what he always eats, to his delight, but then the other meal is a different one, consisting of a big serving of chicken salad and what seems to be squash soup.

Hyunjin blinks and tilts his head at that seemingly healthy but sad meal, but just as he's about to open his mouth to ask, Seungmin places the burger and fries on the other side of the table, then the salad and soup in front of Hyunjin.

He ends up staring down at his meal dumbly as a glass of orange juice is placed on his side as well, then a can of soda across the table. "Uh—"

"We're switching. It's time you got something decent in your system," Seungmin says in his soft, mellow voice that almost gets Hyunjin lost in it, still very much overwhelmed that he gets to hear the other boy speak more than he usually does.

Seungmin finally settles himself down across the table then, starting to carefully unwrap his burger while Hyunjin is still left dumbfounded—so Hyunjin blinks a bit more, trying to process things in his head, until he puts two and two together and it all clicks.

"Does this mean you knew that... all I ever eat is burger and fries? And you want me to eat healthier?"

Seungmin just nods twice, taking a bite out of his burger and chewing slowly, as if it's his first time tasting it. Hyunjin raises his brows, the corner of his lips curving up into an amused smile at the sight.

"And you're eating that because you're curious why I keep eating it?"

And another nod.

Hyunjin covers his face with a hand in an attempt to hide a really big smile then, but his giggling eventually gives it away. And as he peeks over at Seungmin from the spaces between his fingers, watching him try to taste a single french fry as well, he happily thinks to himself, _he notices me._

"Won't you at least give me a french fry?"

"No."

"Half?"

"No."

"I'll settle for some sodaaa."

"No."

"Nnggg."

"No."

But Hyunjin ends up loving chicken salad, squash soup, orange juice, and Seungmin. A lot.

Hyunjin does most of the talking the whole time, Seungmin just humming, nodding and occasionally saying a few words here and there, but it doesn't feel awkward at all. He can see how Seungmin pays attention to his every word and it makes him happy, even the instances where Seungmin has to pause him from continuously talking first to remind him he needs to finish his food, going as far as taking Hyunjin's chopsticks to feed him the salad himself (and everytime it happens, he wonders if it's just him or his food actually tastes a hundred times better).

"Oh, right—how much do I owe you again?"

"No."

"Seungminnn."

"No, Hyunjin."

It catches him offguard.

He can almost feel his heart literally fluttering as it echoes in his head.

_He said my name for the first time._

He bites down on his bottom lip, hiding a shy smile, but it grows wider and wider until he ends up covering his face with his hands, letting out a weird, strangled sound from trying not to laugh and squeal at the same time.

"Why do you always do that?"

"It's your fault!"

Right after they finish eating, he borrows Seungmin's phone, simply placing it on the table in front of him and just waving a hand above its screen before the phone magically lights up, unlocked, revealing Hyunjin's newly saved contact details—he even shamelessly named himself _'my little sunshine'—_ along with a selca of him from yesterday; the paper butterfly resting right above his ear.

And as he returns the phone and proudly shows it to the other male, he sees Seungmin finally allow himself to smile softly at him for the very first time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hours and hours later, a sleep-deprived Chan pokes his head out of his bedroom door to squint at a certain boy's figure in the living room.

"Hyunjins, I know there's no classes tomorrow but it's like 2AM can you please stop shrieking and hugging the damn wall and just sleep already—"

"I caaan't!!!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you guys ever just watch seungjin moments and think hyunjin can't possibly be The Man between them,,  
> like i know he's a confident gay with the members but with seungmin he just turns into a Panicked Gay u feel me  
> and seungmin is just cool all the way like 'hey babe u got a lil smth on your face here let me get that for u'  
> -  
> comments are loved!!  
> \+ you can yell at me @seungjin-chan on tumblr!  
> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter might just change your minds about liking this fic because Man,,  
> it's so unoriginal and unrealistic and it feels like it belongs to winglin (if you don't know winglin you are clearly still very young dhfgdb)  
> but wow, 70 kudos! thank you so much!! <3  
> -  
> since i appreciate it whenever authors post chapters and indicate how many words they have, i shall do the same!  
> here's 4.3k words of potential Disappointment,,

"Congratulations. Now I'm sure you're gonna get him in trouble."

Seungmin huffs and throws himself onto the sofa, lying down lazily as he rests his head on the armrest. "Seriously, Jinyoung hyung. People can't possibly still be immature enough to be doing that kind of thing in college."

Jinyoung just snorts and tosses his phone at the younger boy, who easily catches it with a hand and shoots a half-hearted glare at his flatmate, who's currently on his way to take a seat by Seungmin's feet on the other end of the sofa.

"You're still just first years; it's practically post high school until your third semester. Plus, you two have like a hundred reposts of your videos—in multiple angles—and you're not even idols. I can't believe you two were able to have a lunch date and not notice a single camera pointed in your direction the whole time."

Seungmin frowns and unlocks Jinyoung's phone, his Instagram coming into view where he's on the tag called _#seungjin_ and to his amusement, all he sees are videos and photos of himself with Hyunjin at the cafeteria yesterday and at the campus garden the other day.

"If you read the comments, you'll see how there are clearly more fans of you two individually than you two together and even though we both know you can fight for yourself just fine, what about your 'little sunshine', huh?"

Seungmin snorts at that last bit, kicking at Jinyoung's side playfully. "Shut up, it's cute."

"But more importantly, you better make sure that baby boy of yours—"

"Wow, that's cute too."

"—is safe at all times."

Seungmin doesn't bother reading any captions or comments and just tosses the phone back at Jinyoung, successfully landing it on his lap. He's definitely not in the mood to see pathetic girls and boys shamelessly voicing out their sad, unrequited love for Hyunjin right now (or ever, for that matter). "Why are you so worked up over this anyway?"

"Because, my dear Cheri," Jinyoung pauses, reaching over to pull on one of the younger boy's cheeks, "Mark is not a liar, and he's lived here forever. He's a graduate of _your_ university. We moved into a city much less kind than where we lived before, and apparently, gangs exist."

Seungmin huffs. He doesn't believe it, especially since he barely even witnessed anything like that in their hometown back in high school. Cliché things like that are a little too unrealistic for his kind of logical mindset, but what Jinyoung's been genuinely concerned about ever since he started talking about Hyunjin at all is that one day, some rich crazy bitches are going to pay people to beat him or Hyunjin up (or both of them, separately) and warn them to stay away from each other—otherwise, they'll continue doing it, or something.

It doesn't make sense to Seungmin. As if he or Hyunjin would end up being with those other people if they got them to stay away from each other in the first place.

But Jinyoung's serious worrying about it is really starting to make him anxious. It's not everyday he hears him actually being concerned about something enough to bring it up all the time, and it's alarming—even more so now that he's finding out it was actually Mark who told him all about it.

So he sighs and nods. "Okay. I'll at least tell him to stay safe whenever he goes out."

Jinyoung lets out a noise of disapproval and shakes his head with a dismissive hand. "Nah, Ri. That'll only end up with him spazzing over you because he thinks you're being sweet."

Seungmin chuckles at the thought, and Jinyoung just shakes his head in amusement before turning back to swipe through his phone. "That reminds me—I woke up to like, about six messages from Christopher and they were all sent past two in the morning. One of which is a video of your—"

"Gimme," Seungmin immediately sits up and snatches the phone, ignoring Jinyoung's eyes narrowing at him and easily finding the older male's messenger before opening his chatroom with his distant cousin, but still close friend.

  
_**from: little christopher (02:16)**_

_hyung do you wanna like_

_switch rooms with me for a couple of weeks or so_

_i've been having a hyunjins situation for hours now_

_[ video file attached]_

_oh wait he'll die if you do that_

_i forgot you're his idol nevermind_

  
Seungmin furrows his brows, tapping on the video and pausing it first to let it load. "You're his idol? How come you've never told me about that?"

Jinyoung shrugs cluelessly. "I didn't know before today either. But then I saw him being tagged in the posts, his username rang a bell, then I realized he's been a follower of mine since—I don't know, forever I think?"

Seungmin makes a face, earning him a flick on the forehead, before he finally plays the video.

Chris' face comes into view first, his eyes half-lidded and clearly tired with dark bags underneath them.

 _"Hi. You are now watching another episode of Hwang Hyunjins and the poor, sleepless man. Let's now go see the species of interest in its natural habitat,"_ Chris mumbles sleepily before he switches the camera to the back, starting to walk until he reaches his door before he turns the knob, the lights from what seems to be their living room slowly brightening up the video as he pushes the door open.

Soon, Hyunjin's figure comes into view from some distance away, his back being the only thing visible, as he seems to be... Seungmin takes a closer look.

What exactly is this boy doing.

_"Hyunjins, I know there's no classes tomorrow but it's like 2AM can you please stop shrieking and hugging the damn wall and just sleep already—"_

_"I caaan't!!!"_

More incoherent screeches, squeals, sobs and various noises follow after.

Seungmin stifles a laugh behind his hand as video-Chris switches back the camera to the front, showing the older male's face again with an amused—but still mostly tired—expression.

_"So as you can hear from the background, folks, these are the effects of a Hwang Hyunjin's growing love for another species called Kim Seungmins."_

He sighs and nods. " _Yep. That would be all for tonight, hopefully there won't be any more episodes to watch out for, but—"_

_"I'M SO IN LOVE HYUNG WHAT DO I DOOO."_

Chris looks at the camera again, looking done with life. _"Clearly, that won't be the case. I must go now. Hwang Hyunjins has resorted to hugging the floor."_

The video stops there and by then, Seungmin's cheeks are already aching from grinning too wide. Jinyoung finds himself smiling at the sight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 _**from: unknown number (09:27)** _  
_**to: my little sunshine** _

_stay safe whenever you go out. bring along a friend and an umbrella. also a taser. - seungmin_

  
_**from: my little sunshine (11:13)** _  
_**to: my one and only** _

_!!1!_

_ok_

_i have a friend i can drag along with me_

_he's still sleeping but it's ok i just woke up anyway_

_i have an umbrella too_

_surprisingly i also still have this taser my mom sent me months ago but never used_

_yay now i have everything i need!_

_wait_

_why do i need a taser and a friend again_

  
_**from: love of my life (11:15)** _  
_**to: my little sunshine** _

_just trust me._

  
_**from: my little sunshine (11:16)** _  
_**to: my everything** _

_ok!!_

 

 

(But Hyunjin ends up just spending the weekend at home, his eyes almost always glued to his phone screen, trying to come up with the perfect contact name for Seungmin. Chan gets to enjoy some peace.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday comes a little too soon for Seungmin and it's only been about ten minutes since he arrived, but he's already tired of hearing countless girls and boys shamelessly spazzing over or talking about him as they pass him by in the corridor while he waits for class to start.

It's significantly worse than it used to be before he and Hyunjin got closer and even though he considers himself a master of not giving a damn, it's starting to get annoying. He can barely even process the book he's reading anymore, and that says something.

_'He's so handsome, oh my God!'_

_'He and Hyunjin look perfect together, don't you think?'_

_'Hyunjin is so out of his league.'_

_'I bet Hyunjin cast some sort of spell on him with his freaky magic or something.'_

_'They're not dating yet, are they? I really hope they won't!'_

_'Nah, one of them will get attacked before they even get to date.'_

Seungmin stills.

_'Poor guy. She's too obsessed with him.'_

_'That kind of thing happens all the time here, how do you not notice?'_

He furrows his brows and strains his ears, listening in more attentively amongst all the mixed murmurs echoing along the corridors from countless groups of people.

_'I'm telling you, these first years are something else. They pay like, gangs and...'_

_'—how is she not expelled yet? She's already attacked this one guy from...'_

_'Man, imagine seeing Hwang Hyunjin with a beat up face.'_

Seungmin's eyes widen.

_Wait. Seriously?_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 _**from: fjdkfjfkdg ill think of a name again later (14:19)** _  
_**to: my little sunshine** _

_what time do you finish classes today? i'll walk you home._

  
_**from: my little sunshine (15:41)** _  
_**to: fjdkfjfkdg ill think of a name again later** _

_rEALLY_

_dbf_

_phone fell on the floor,_

_my last class finishes at 6!_

_does this mean we'll eat dinner together!!_

_there's this new fast food restaurant in town i wanted to try!_

  
_**from: fjdkfjfkdg ill think of a name again later (15:43)** _  
_**to: my little sunshine** _

_alright, i'll be waiting for you at the gates. and no, you are not having fast food._

_but we'll have dinner together._

  
_**from: my little sunshine (15:46)** _  
_**to: fjdkfjfkdg ill think of a name again later** _

_yay!!!_

_oh my god how is it not 6 yet_

  
_**from: fjdkfjfkdg ill think of a name again later (15:47)** _  
_**to: my little sunshine** _

_hyunjin. pay attention in class._

  
_**from: my little sunshine (15:49)** _  
_**to: fjdkfjfkdg ill think of a name again later** _

_chan hyung i'll be eating dinner with my prince today!!1! i'll tell ujina hyung to eat with you, don't worry!_

  
_**from: fjdkfjfkdg ill think of a name again later (15:50)** _  
_**to: my little sunshine** _

_... hi, this is your prince speaking._

  
_**from: my little sunshine (15:50)** _  
_**to: fjdkfjfkdg ill think of a name again later** _

_sHGDHDHDDDHD_

_uh,,_

_that was a typo_

  
_**from: fjdkfjfkdg ill think of a name again later (15:51)** _  
_**to: my little sunshine** _

_pay attention in class, princess._

  
_**from: my little sunshine (15:52)** _  
_**to: fjdkfjfkdg ill think of a name again later** _

_i'M_

_ok_

 

 

 

 

 

 

After just a minute past six, Seungmin already spots Hyunjin happily sprinting his way over to him at the university gates, hands waving frantically as he yells out his name.

He'd honestly rather not catch so much attention everytime he does it, but if he didn't find it so endearing, he probably would have already told Hyunjin about it long ago.

Seungmin catches the taller male by his excited hands as soon as he arrives, stumbling back a little due to the force of his running before he finds the corners of his lips once again easily quirking up when he sees Hyunjin's expression turn a little surprised, cheeks flushing a pretty shade of pink as he looks at their hands together.

Hyunjin seems to notice him smiling again—no matter how small it is that people wouldn't normally see it—and immediately flashes back a bright smile.

"Did you not wait for me too long? I kind of forgot that you're not supposed to have the same schedule as I do so I just said yes without really thinking, but what time did your last class finish today?" he asks with a tilt of his head, carefully letting go just one of Seungmin's hands as he starts to walk past the gates to lead the way.

"Four," Seungmin follows him by his side, discreetly glancing over Hyunjin's shoulder to send icy glares at the students blatantly filming them with their phones and turning back to look ahead after he sees them put their phones down in fear just as Hyunjin gasps at him.

"You had to wait two hours? You really didn't have to—"

Seungmin shakes his head. "I was reading. Two hours is fine."

He sees him blink and look up thoughtfully at that. "Chan hyung says that too. How do you two not get bored waiting that long? Oh—Chan hyung's my flatmate, by the way! I should introduce you someday. Remember the—" he pauses, his free hand coming up to rub at his nape sheepishly as he speaks a little more softly, "the one I was supposed to message earlier?"

Seungmin just hums and nods, opting not to let the other boy know that he's already figured out pretty much everything weeks ago. "Were you going to walk home together today?"

"Oh, no no," Hyunjin shakes his head, more than people normally do. Seungmin finds it adorable.

"Chan hyung and I only get to walk home together on Tuesdays and Thursdays because for the rest of the weekdays, I'd have to wait for him for quite a while, so I walk home by myself. But we always head out together in the morning!" he nods, starting to get more comfortable as he lightly swings their hands as they walk.

As they take a turn to the left, Seungmin feels better not seeing any more students around, so he lets himself speak just a little bit less quietly this time around. "Then I'll walk you home on those days. Is it the same schedule as today?"

But Hyunjin blinks at him with slightly big eyes, shaking his head along with his other hand dismissively.

"No, no, you really don't have to do that, it's okay! I mean, of course, if you're kind of telling me you want to take me out to eat then I suppose it's fine but..." he falters, blinking a bit more to himself in thought, "if it's because you don't want me walking home by myself in general, I'm always gonna be bringing my umbrella and taser like you told me to, so you really don't have to worry! If—you're worried, that is...?"

Frankly, Seungmin is a little terrified. But worried is also right.

"Okay I'm assuming things," Hyunjin quickly mumbles that last bit to himself as he tears his gaze away from Seungmin, looking down at the ground flusteredly instead.

He lets himself smile at the sight.

No matter how easy it's always been for him to see that Hyunjin likes him—from the way he blushes at the littlest things up to how much his face brightens up at the mere sight of Seungmin—he still can't seem to bring himself to feel even just the tiniest bit annoyed about it. He even finds it cute that the very first time he realized it, he couldn't believe himself either.

Of course, he's already encountered people who tried to get close to him too because they also liked him the way Hyunjin does, but not one of them has been able to make him feel anything other than pissed off whenever they giggled shyly or squealed, or anything alike.

Hyunjin—he makes Seungmin smile.

And he goes _way_ out of his way and tries his very best just to make him happy more than anything else. It's as if that's all that really matters to him when they're together and he doesn't ever get discouraged at how quiet Seungmin is—he even seems surprisingly comfortable with it. He's not like the rest, who only ever gets near him to feel good about themselves. No matter how obvious he is about how he likes Seungmin, he never makes him feel that the only reason he's talking to him at all is because he wants to date him.

It's just a hunch, but he thinks Hyunjin would most likely either never confess at all, or confess and immediately say something like _'you don't have to return my feelings, just please don't let this break our friendship',_ someday.

He gives Hyunjin's hand a gentle squeeze, catching his attention and making him glance up at him again before he answers, "Both."

"... Oh," Hyunjin bites down on his lip, gazing down briefly at their hands to carefully lace their fingers together before looking back up at him with a shy little smile. "Okay."

They end up eating at a family restaurant, where _'everything in the menu looks like they're healthy yummy food',_ as Hyunjin phrased, which Seungmin is proud of.

Hyunjin shows him another magic trick once they're finished, where he swiftly pulls the sheets off their table without any of their glasses or plates moving an inch, earns a big applause from the employees and other customers, and then a chuckle from Seungmin (especially when he gets flustered after belatedly realizing that other people had been watching him).

He sees Hyunjin look at him with a starstruck expression at that time.

He still doesn't let Hyunjin pay, and the only thing that gets him to stop whining about it is Seungmin pressing an index finger onto his pouty lips to shush him.

Hyunjin's blush is one of the prettiest things Seungmin has ever seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"We're here!" Hyunjin exclaims with a happy little flail of his arms, stopping in front of a decent looking apartment with a garage, a car, and a small garden up front. "Chan hyung drives his car only when it's really needed, in case you're wondering why we still walk together."

Seungmin nods, glancing at the road ahead of them before raising his brows just a little when he realizes he just needs to walk a bit more before he knows his way around to get back to his own place. It definitely adds a few hundred meters more walking from Hyunjin's street than just walking straight to his apartment, but if he's doing it for Hyunjin, it's plenty convenient enough for him and he's honestly grateful he doesn't even need to ride on anything to get home.

"My apartment isn't all that far from here."

"Oh my gosh, really? That's so amazing! How come we've never crossed paths here before? This is so cool!" Hyunjin bounces excitedly, before pausing and quickly looking down at his watch. "Oh, it's already past eight! You should head back home now and get some rest, yeah? You need energy for when we see each other again tomorrow!"

Seungmin smiles at his statement and reaches up to give Hyunjin's hair a gentle fondle, successfully making his cheeks flush once more. "I'll go as soon as you get inside."

Hyunjin bites back a smile, eventually letting out a giggle before stepping up to him shyly to give him a short lived hug, immediately pulling away before Seungmin fully registers it, as if he's worried he might not like it (read: he does).

"Thank you for everything today, you made me very happy. I hope I'm able to make you happy too."

Seungmin watches him as he quickly heads to the gates with a wave and a bright smile, keying the lock and making his way in until he reaches inside the apartment itself, before he quickly peeks over from one of the windows, blowing him a sweet little kiss.

Seungmin can't help letting out a small laugh at that, pretending to catch the kiss and putting it in his shirt pocket.

He doesn't know if Hyunjin's cute, stunned face is because of the kiss he caught or because of his laugh (or both), but when he sees him giggling again with his eyes forming the most adorable crescents, waving him goodbye and finally waddling out of view, Seungmin is just glad he did whatever he did to see such a precious sight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seungmin continues to hear quiet rumors about the attack, and it's made clear to him that the target is indeed Hyunjin.

So, he also continues to make sure Hyunjin gets home safely every single day for the next three weeks—even telling him to send a message once he's home whenever it's not his turn to walk him back. At some instances, he wishes it would just happen already so he can protect Hyunjin and beat the shit out of whoever's going to be attacking—and just get it _over with_.

There are times where he sees the exhaustion and lack of sleep right through Hyunjin's bright smiles and energetic demeanor, and he just walks him straight home, telling him that Chris might be missing eating dinner with him too.

(He receives a text in English saying **'thank you man i approve of you'** everytime he does, and Jinyoung just pretends he doesn't constantly talk about Seungmin to Chris whenever he asks.)

The attention they get from spending more time together increases by a landslide, but whenever he sees the other boy paying the people no mind at all and really just solely focusing on Seungmin all the time, it makes it easier for him to get used to it until he almost never notices it anymore. Though he still has to glare at some students here and there at times.

Hyunjin also makes it easier for him to smile a little more often than he usually does. (Jinyoung constantly tells him to _'stop smiling creepily'_ by himself at home now.)

He does the most endearing things Seungmin could ever imagine. And he still has a bunch of magic tricks up his sleeve to show him every single day and frankly, Seungmin is already amazed by that fact alone and that he does it just for him.

He's also come to learn that whenever he sees Hyunjin walking into class with his lips jutted out into a pout, it's because he's hungry. Seungmin's always prepared, however; always ready to pull out one of the boy's favourite flavours of cake pop from his bag to poke onto his adorable, plump lips, which eventually splits into a big smile as he chews happily onto it with a cute little _'thank you, Seungminnie.'_ It really makes his day.

He learns how Hyunjin likes holding hands, but he still always reaches for Seungmin's hand hesitantly and shyly, only gaining the confidence to lace their fingers together when Seungmin holds his hand back firmly and gives it a small squeeze to silently tell him it's okay.

With an uneasy heart, he also learns how much he just adores Jinyoung, his songs and the way he performs.

Jinyoung just laughs at him one day when he comes home sulking and asking, _'of all the youtubers out there, why you.'_   Jinyoung makes him feel a little better by telling him he's still part of what Hyunjin adores about him though, reminding him that he always lends out a hand in writing and composing a lot of his songs after all.

He learns about his huge group of friends (well, to him, seven friends is pretty damn plenty) and how happy he'd be if he gets to introduce him to them, but tells him right away that he's not going to do it unless Seungmin says he wants to as well. At his circumstances, he'd probably only be comfortable meeting just Chris, so he's grateful for how thoughtful the boy seems to be everytime.

Seungmin starts speaking just a little bit more, but he feels bad sometimes that he barely says anything about himself when he can see so clearly how much Hyunjin wants to know about him—but the boy is always considerate and never asks anything that needs too much speaking. Instead, he's able to learn about him from the littlest things he says or does that sometimes, when Hyunjin points them out, it's almost alarming, if Seungmin doesn't find it precious instead at how hard he's trying to get to know him more.

Before he realizes it, Hyunjin is already steadily making his way into his life.

And for once, Seungmin doesn't mind having someone other than Jinyoung become a part of it too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 _ **from: chrispy fried noodles (13:24)**_  
_**to: hyunjins**_

_hyunjins! hyung needs to stay behind to finish student council work with woojins and it's gonna take quite a while so i can't walk home with you today. you should walk with seungmins!_

  
Hyunjin sees the message a little too late, when he's already dismissed at three and Seungmin should already be home by then, being dismissed an hour earlier than Hyunjin on Mondays.

Of course, he's not going to make Seungmin go through all the trouble of walking back to the university just to walk him home—that's _absurd—_ so he shrugs and walks past the gates on his own, typing up a quick reply to Chan.

  
_**from: hyunjins (15:02)**_  
_**to: chrispy fried noodles**_

_it's ok!! don't exhaust yourselves too much!_

  
But then, he figures he should at least try asking if Seungmin's still there; he could also still be at the library reading again, after all, so he slows down his pace just a little, typing a message for Seungmin this time.

  
_**from: my little sunshine (15:04)**_  
_**to: my sweet prince**_

_seungmins!!_

_i mean seungmin_

_chan hyung is rubbing off on me with that istg_

_anyway are you already home?_

  
_**from: my sweet prince (15:05)**_  
_**to: my little sunshine**_

_yeah, i'm home now. why?_

  
_**from: my little sunshine (15:07)**_  
_**to: my sweet prince**_

_ok!!_

_i'm on my way home but i asked just in case you stayed behind in the library again_

_you should rest now!_

  
He finally pockets his phone and picks up his pace, skipping a little in between as he clutches onto the straps of his backpack.

  
_**from: my sweet prince (15:08)**_  
_**to: my little sunshine**_

_wait, are you walking home by yourself?_

  
_**(15:11)**_

_hyunjin_

 

  
_**13 missed calls from: my sweet prince (15:34)**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you still like this fic after reading this chapter, then wow—thank you!! <3  
> your comments keep me going, so please do comment your thoughts!  
> -  
> my tumblr is @seungjin-chan if you want to holler at me to get my shit together shgdsdgb  
> fun fact this fic that you're reading is actually only within a 9th-10th grader's readability level shfsghsfd


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very sorry for the delay everyone shdsgd i wanted to write something for christmas so i focused on finishing my 2min oneshot first,,  
> this fic is turning out to have more of seungmin's perspective and less of hyunjin's omf  
> also this will be short because if i add more then it'll become a little Too Long so  
> here's a measly 3.4k worded chapter!!1!  
>  _prepare yourselves for the very poorly written Action scenes_  
> 

"Hey, you there."

Hyunjin blinks and glances to the side as he walks, seeing a group of shady looking guys in an alleyway before rolling his eyes and continuing to make his way back home.

He was pretty sure he's gotten the gangs in the area to leave him alone all this while, but he's never seen these particular guys before and he's too lazy to deal with it now.

However, rule number one is that gangs don't let whoever they randomly call out on get away so easily and immediately has one of them dragging Hyunjin into the alleyway as well, so he just sighs and runs a hand down his face before shrugging his backpack off his shoulders and setting it down behind him by the wall, shooting an uninterested look at who seems to be their leader as he crosses his arms.

"Okay—first of all, there's already enough gangs around this place for you to settle here too."

The guy raises a brow at that, as if he's amused that Hyunjin seems so used to this—and though he's not very proud of it, he is.

"Second, you're not getting any of my money. You'd just look pretty pitiful if you did, though."

The leader just snorts. "We don't need your money, that's already covered for."

Hyunjin furrows his brows at that. He was pretty sure the only thing gangs ever wanted from him was money—what else could they possibly want?

"We're just here to deliver a message from this university bitch. Apparently wants you away from some dude named Kim Seungmin."

He lets it process in his head for a few seconds, blinking dumbly.

So there's a gang... a girl from university... and Seungmin.

Wait. _This_ scheme?

_In this time and age? Really?_

"And yeah," the guy continues with a snort, "she's retarded, but she pays good money."

Hyunjin almost laughs incredulously at that, but with a snap of the leader's fingers, six other guys come charging at him all at once.

"Ugh," he huffs in annoyance before he swiftly ducks down, successfully dodging a punch as he catches the fist in one hand, pushing it away roughly to hit one other guy in the eye before kicking the owner of the fist in the nuts.

Another one immediately headlocks him from behind, so he grabs at the man's arm and easily throws him over his head, doing a quick spin to use the guy's feet to hit the previous two in the face before tossing him onto the ground on top of the other two.

For good measure, he uses the three bodies on the ground as a spring, purposely stepping on them to bring himself up in the air, kicking down one more person on the chest before he catches the wrist of another guy with a bat, twisting his arm in one quick movement, making him yell out in pain.

Hyunjin smirks as the grip on the bat loosens so he takes it for himself, swinging the heavy metal club with a lot of force to hit the side of the guy's knee, making him fall to the ground as well. He spins back around while still swinging the bat, successfully preventing the last guy from landing his first attack on him by striking the side of his torso and kicking him down.

Spinning on his heel to face the last one still standing, he roughly shoves the end of the bat onto his chest, then his abdomen, and soon he's down and writhing on the ground like the rest.

"Alright," he huffs out a breath as he takes a look at the six bodies sprawled out on the ground, passing by each one of them as he skillfully strikes the part of their heads where they'd fall unconscious one by one, before turning around to face the leader, who doesn't even spare a single glance at the other members of the gang.

Whoever paid them definitely just assumed all gangs were strong.

_What an airhead._

Hyunjin lifts up the bat and points it at him threateningly. "Tell me who sent you and I'll let you off easy."

The guys just laughs. "What kind of idiot do you take me for?"

Hyunjin rolls his eyes again. _Figures._

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seungmin has never felt this much panicked in his life.

Images of Hyunjin getting hurt and possibly even bleeding keeps popping up in his head and it's driving him more and more insane with each second he spends frantically looking at every single street within a two-hundred meter radius of Hyunjin's path back home from the university.

He spits curses under his breath and runs a hand through his hair in frustration.

Why didn't he think of this possibility? He could have easily prevented it by just staying behind in the library and waiting until he's sure that Chris is already with him during the days he's not supposed to walk him home.

_Dammit._

He holds onto his knees as he catches his breath, scanning along his surroundings and looking at the line of tall buildings down the street.

Just then, something clicks in his head.

He immediately sprints his way by the sidewalk, bumping into a few people along the way and muttering quick apologies as he just keeps his gaze ahead—far, far away from where he is—seeing a number of alleyways all across the other side of the road.

His heart pounds when he catches a glimpse of a familiar figure in one of the narrow paths between the buildings, along with a number of other guys surrounding him, and he's wearing the exact same clothes Hyunjin wore to university today. So he runs even faster, letting out a frustrated yell because _he's not going to make the green light in time._

Reaching the end of the sidewalk just as the stoplight turns red, he abruptly stops, countless cars now speeding by the highway right in front of him.

He clenches his fists, straining his eyes to try and make sense of what's happening on the other side of the road in between the milliseconds where he gets a blurry view of the dark alley, as if everything is in stop motion.

The tall boy there is definitely Hyunjin, and that's definitely a gang surrounding him, and—

Seungmin widens his eyes a little, stepping just a bit closer to the crosswalk, unblinking as he continues to try and see what's happening in the midst of all the passing cars.

Is that—?

_Is that Hyunjin... fighting?_

His jaws drop at the sight. It's all in a blur, and it's hard to see, but he's sure he sees nearly everything—the punching, the kicking and all the _throwing_ he's doing.

And then, Hyunjin even gets his hands on a fucking _baseball bat_.

The lack of hesitance he sees in Hyunjin's eyes with every swing and every strike shocks Seungmin to a great extent.

Right now, he can't seem to see even a single hint of his little sunshine—his sweet, innocent little angel—and it's a little too overwhelming for someone who naturally doesn't respond or react to a lot of things anymore.

"Hot _damn,_ " he murmurs to himself before he realizes it, giving himself a slap on the cheek and shaking his head to get back to his senses.

He then glances up at the stoplight, huffing in frustration at how long it's taking before looking back towards the alley, breath catching in his throat when he sees Hyunjin on the ground, and one guy is still standing.

"Shit," he keeps shifting his gaze between Hyunjin and the spotlight, and as soon as the light turns green, he quickly sprints his way over, eyes seeing red at the sight of the bat now in the other guy's hand.

He picks up his pace as he runs straight to the guy, catching him offguard and landing a hard punch on his face right away.

Seungmin then grabs his wrists as he staggers back at the impact and promptly breaks them with practiced ease, tossing the bat aside the moment the guy starts screeching and writhing in pain before grabbing him by the collar and pushing him up against the wall with a low growl. "Which one of those psychotic bitches sent you."

"Ah," the guy looks at him, actually managing to laugh through the pain Seungmin _knows_ should be unbearable. "So you're Kim Seungmin. Well you sure got this attack delayed far longer than necessary, you little shit."

Seungmin feels his blood boil.

Harshly stepping on the guy's right foot, he uses his own right leg to lift, turn and twist the guy's left leg from their standing position before smirking as he feels something break, followed by the sound of struggling cries.

"Sorry. I didn't think a gang couldn't handle two people at once and would wait until Hyunjin was just by himself," he grabs at the guy's hair harshly, pulling it back before he speaks through gritted teeth in a dangerously low voice. "Joke's on you. Turns out he can handle your sad excuse of a gang _swimmingly._ "

He lands another punch on his face before letting go of him and taking a step back, watching him collapse onto the ground with a scowl.

"S—Seungmin...?" Hyunjin calls out quietly, but just as he's about to turn around to face him, he hears a phone ring.

Glancing back down at the leader, he catches sight of a phone lighting up from his jacket's pocket, so he briefly reaches down to pull it out, staring at the caller ID with narrowed eyes before raising his brows.

It's definitely one of the names he's heard on campus whenever he manages to hear rumours about the attack.

He answers the call, puts it on loudspeaker, and casually kicks the gang leader in the face when he yells something about giving him his phone back.

 _"I'm assuming you're already done with Hwang Hyunjin,"_ is the very first thing he hears, her voice ever so confident and just plain _annoying_.

"Yeah, right," Seungmin answers with a small snort and rolls his eyes at the sound of a sharp gasp from the other line, knowing it's because she immediately recognized his voice. "I don't know what kind of shit you eat to be this dumb. But you can't possibly believe you'll ever get a chance with me by driving Hyunjin away from me, can you?"

She doesn't say anything.

"Listen closely," he lifts up a foot, before roughly stomping on the gang leader's hand, forcing shrill cries out of him as he mercilessly grinds down on all his fingers, making sure he's breaking at least a couple of bones or two.

_"W—who is—"_

"That, is the weakass leader of the gang you so stupidly believed to be good enough for this job," Seungmin laughs, foot continuing to crush down on the guy's hand. "And believe me—once I find you,  _you're next_."

The girl pauses and laughs nervously. _"No, you can't do that. You'll get—"_

"What, expelled?" he scoffs, rolling his eyes. "That's nothing new. I would gladly go to prison if it means I can break your _neck_."

He hangs up with that and pockets the phone, eyes swiftly shifting to the side as he sees two of the other gang members suddenly getting up and running towards him in an attempt to attack him and probably save their leader.

Raising an unamused brow at their poor stances, he easily predicts their actions and dodges them, sending them stumbling forward until they're behind Seungmin.

He doesn't have to turn around and look to figure out that they've picked up the bat again, his ears picking up the whipping sound of it being swung towards him and his arm moving up just in time to catch it in his hand.

"H—hey, give it _back!_ "

The bat wobbles in his grip as one of them struggles to pull it back, so Seungmin turns around to face them and calmly lets go, sending it flying back towards the guy and hitting him hard on the face.

A sound of a suppressed laugh tears his gaze away from them and lands onto Hyunjin, seeing the boy giggling uncontrollably and looking literally nothing like the boy Seungmin had just been watching from across the road.

He ends up smiling fondly at the sight, hand swiftly grabbing at the back of the unarmed guy's shirt to yank him back before he gets to step towards Hyunjin and easily shoving him aside, crashing him onto the wall.

"You son of a _bitch_ ," the other guy hisses at him, hands on his nose as blood trickles down his chin.

"Hm, that's true," Seungmin picks up the bat, spinning it around his hand boredly as he kicks on the guy's shoulder and pushes him onto the ground.

He figures the other guy hasn't been harmed enough yet when he sees him stubbornly staggering back towards them, so he lifts up the bat in his direction and shoots him a mocking smile. "You guys aren't cut out for this."

In one swift movement, he roughly pushes the end of the bat onto the guy's face and raises a foot up until his chest, shoving him down easily until he falls on his back before digging the heel of his shoe onto his shoulder, crushing down on it with a smirk. "I suggest you don't bother standing up again if you don't want to lose an arm."

He then turns around and saunters back towards the leader as he takes a look at all the bodies pathetically sprawled out on the ground, dropping the heavy bat onto his torso nonchalantly.

"Seungminnie...?" Hyunjin calls out to him again softly, so he finally makes his way over to him in big strides, crouching down to his level and giving him a once over to check for any injuries.

He carefully holds the boy's face in his hands, looking for any bruises or wounds, but he doesn't spot a single one.

Hyunjin just stares up at him, adorably wide eyed and kind of gaping at him with his mouth slightly open, as if he's in awe.

And the one-eighty degree transformation of Hyunjin's demeanor from when he was swinging the bat like a madman (a less psychotic one, in Seungmin's opinion) to his demeanor right now seriously gets him lost.

_But it draws him in._

"Where did you get hurt?"

"Oh, it's just," he looks down at his feet, "I only hurt my ankle. He made me trip and stumble so I fell down and—I think I sprained it? I can't stand now," he finishes explaining with a pout, nuzzling gently onto Seungmin's palms still cupping his cheeks, and the action is just so _heartwrenchingly adorable_ that he has to get himself together for a couple of seconds before he finds his voice again.

"And you're not hurt anywhere else?"

Hyunjin shakes his head and just leans into his touch even more, so he lets out a relieved sigh, briefly caressing the boy's soft cheeks with his thumbs. He gets this sweet little smile from it, and soon enough, he ends up being unable to stop himself from pressing a gentle kiss onto the boy's forehead.

And as he leans back, he's met with the cutest sight of Hyunjin gazing up at him in wonder with his big, sparkling eyes.

With a fond smile, Seungmin gently pats the boy's cheek and presses one more kiss atop his head. "Let's go home, little sunshine."

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Oh my gosh, we're actually going to your apartment! Yaaay!" Hyunjin happily wiggles a little on Seungmin's back, so the shorter male just bounces him gently to fix him again, tightening his hold behind the taller boy's knees as he continues to walk. "I can't wait to see how it looks like!"

Seungmin quietly smiles to himself as he feels the long arms tighten around him as well, Hyunjin's chin comfortably resting on one of his shoulders.

He sees Hyunjin staring at his face with a cute little smile from the corner of his eyes, so he swiftly turns to look back at him and chuckles when he suddenly looks away and pretends to look around the street. "It's closer. We need to treat your ankle quickly."

Hyunjin hums in response before nuzzling onto his shoulder, pretty much smushing half of his face onto it and staying quiet for a few seconds before murmuring softly against it, his tone a little sad. "You knew it was going to happen all along, right? Does this mean you don't need to walk me home anymore?"

Seungmin's heart melts.

"I never intended to stop walking you home."

Hyunjin's fingers gently curl along Seungmin's shirt then, nodding against his shoulder silently. He spends a few moments just quietly fisting and unfisting his hands into his shirt, seemingly hesitating, before speaking up in this small, insecure voice. "How—how much did you see, before you arrived...?"

Images of Hyunjin with dark eyes and that somewhat maniacal smirk on his face reappear in his head in a quick flash.

_Well._

_Pretty damn plenty,_ he thinks. "Enough."

Hyunjin stiffens at his answer.

"You—you're not... like, um," he stammers, nervously fiddling with his own fingers, and Seungmin thinks he already knows what he means to ask.

He's worried that Seungmin would look at him in a different light, because he knows to himself just how differently he behaved that it was almost hard to recognize him. He's probably scared that he'd think Hyunjin had just been pretending to be someone he wasn't, all this time.

But he doesn't. If anything, Seungmin finds it _attractive._

"Impressed?" he continues instead, before nodding. "Yes, I am."

"Oh," Hyunjin slumps down dejectedly for a second, before abruptly perking up and leaning over Seungmin's shoulder to look at him, knitting his brows into this cute, confused expression. " _Oh?_ "

Seungmin turns his head to face him properly, lightly bumping their foreheads together before chuckling as Hyunjin lets out a surprised, weird little noise, blinking at him with big eyes as he visibly blushes. "Yes."

"... Oh," Hyunjin says in a softer voice, his body seemingly relaxing against him once more as he slowly curves his lips up into a relieved grin. "Well, I did get my hands on a bat?"

"It was sick," Seungmin answers earnestly.

Hyunjin bursts out laughing at that, and though Seungmin pretty much feels his left ear ringing from the close proximity, he doesn't mind. His laugh is undeniably cute.

"I didn't expect you could fight so well," he mumbles a little defeatedly, because he definitely underestimated him and maybe he would have still gotten to find a way to save himself, even if Seungmin didn't come.

"And are you going to tell me whyyy?" Hyunjin asks in a sing-song tone, head tilting to the side as he tones down his laughter into a fit of giggles.

And as Seungmin watches him being the adorable, giggling ball of fluff that he is, he can't quite get it around his head why that's even a question.

"Because you're an angel." 

Hyunjin blushes once more, but he flashes him a wide smile right after. "Well, I didn't expect you could fight like that either! You're just so," he pauses, looking up in thought as his hands randomly move around, "prince-y. Princely? Prince like? But then you were beating the shit out of them like some kind of hot and handsome villain and I was just sitting there watching you like—"

Seungmin turns to look, letting out a quiet laugh when he sees Hyunjin enacting a shocked expression with much more exaggeration—and it makes him look even cuter, even though he probably meant to look ugly.

Hyunjin giggles, resting his chin atop Seungmin's head as he starts happily humming out to random tunes, like the sunshine that he is. (But they're not really random tunes. It's one of Jinyoung's songs, and Seungmin is just too petty to acknowledge that.)

"You called me a hot and handsome villain, though."

"Well, it's the most accurate description! But if you don't want to be a villain, then... you're a hot and handsome knight in shining armor!"

Seungmin ends up grinning in amusement at how Hyunjin doesn't realize he was referring to the 'hot and handsome' part.

"Wait wait wait, a hot and handsome Kung Fu master!"

"No. I only have a fifth degree black belt there."

"Oh! A hot and—wait, what? A fifth degree _what?_ "

"Masters would have the eighth degree."

"... Wait I was half joking—wait, are you for real?"

"But I'm better in Krav Maga."

"Seungmin—"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so!! who among you thought hyunjin wouldn't know the first thing about fighting rAISE YOUR FEET!!1! <3  
> i have no experience in street fighting nor am i knowledgeable about martial arts whatsoever so if i made a mistake somewhere i'm sorry f lails  
> -  
> comments serve as my Fuel™ so please tell me what you think!!  
> (and if you ship seungmin with minho too, do consider checking [this](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17160839) out!)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that moment when the great authors just up and posted amazing oneshots / completed their amazing series because they had to get back to Life™ after the holidays were done and suddenly you feel like the worst writer ever because their skills are worlds away from your nonexistent ones hdhshahshdhd  
> but thank you so much for letting me reach 160 kudos!!1! i'm just so lucky to have you guys reading this mediocre fic and i'm grateful for each and every one of you.  
> it took me so long to update because this whole thing was a Mess™ (though it still is) and i edited it so much because i had to change the majority of it into hyunjin's perspective instead of seungmin's and i don't know why i'm like this,,  
> anywho i hope this 6.5k worded chapter makes up for the wait!!

"Seungminnie," Hyunjin tilts his head, leaning over Seungmin's shoulder curiously. "Earlier, you said getting expelled wasn't anything new. Is that why you transferred in the middle of the year?"

Seungmin nods.

"But why were you expelled?"

With a hum, he briefly recalls what had happened indeed, and quirks the corner of his lips up at the thought.

It was during the music festival the senior performing arts majors had put together, where they invited Jinyoung to sing for the closing number. Their department's head professor had been the emcee, and he was said to be the kind of person who always berated people who were good-looking, whether or not they were talented. But Seungmin never really witnessed it with his own eyes, so he simply didn't say anything and let Jinyoung accept the invitation.

That professor blatantly threw offensive comments about Jinyoung's guitar playing and singing right after his performance. He even said them in a joking manner as he laughed, and it wasn't just one or two measly insults.

He did that right in front of Jinyoung, in the presence of a thousand students who were also inside that theatre.

Seungmin could see how it didn't affect Jinyoung at all, but it affected _him._ Then he was already marching up the stage and storming towards the professor before he realized it, raising his foot up to the man's chest and promptly shoving him down with a hard kick.

Right in front of a shocked Jinyoung, in the presence of a thousand students.

It bore a hole through the wooden floor of the stage where the professor fell into, and he had to be sent to the hospital.

And to Seungmin, that was the best part.

(He even yelled a _'serves you right, you motherfucker'_ while they were taking him away in a stretcher.)

"Seungminnie, you're laughing by yourself," he hears Hyunjin giggling at him and quickly snaps back to his senses, clearing his throat awkwardly as he focuses his attention back to walking.

"I attacked a professor, and he got hospitalized."

He takes a glance at Hyunjin and sees him with a hand covering his mouth in shock, but he still seems entertained. "He must have done something wrong."

"He—" he pauses, nearly forgetting about Hyunjin idolizing Jinyoung, and briefly rephrases the words in his head. "He insulted someone important to me."

Thinking about it again now, he probably would have let it go if that professor dissed the song instead, because at least, it was Seungmin who composed it.

But he never once regretted what he did, even when Jinyoung had to go to the trouble of helping him look for a new university to attend. Jinyoung only pretended to be mad at him for it, but the tightest hug he gave Seungmin that night told him otherwise.

"Someone... important to you?"

With a small smile to himself, he looks back up ahead and nods, even though he probably wouldn't be able to say it in front of Jinyoung. "My lifeline, actually."

"Oh," Hyunjin breathes out quietly, drumming his fingers along Seungmin's shoulders lightly. "That's nice."

And then Seungmin suddenly blinks in realization, glancing up at the sky. "Hyunjin, time?"

"Huh? Oh—sure I got all the time in the world for you why?" Hyunjin says it so naturally and quickly, it makes Seungmin abruptly stop in his tracks.

He lowers his head, unable to stop himself from grinning too widely at how precious he is as he stifles down a laugh.

"I—why are you laughing!" Hyunjin peers down at him and whines, fists lightly hitting Seungmin's back in a childlike manner.

He lifts his head back up and looks at the pouting boy properly, but his pout disappears as soon as he sees Seungmin's face, his expression turning a little stunned instead. "I was asking what time it is."

Hyunjin very visibly reddens from the tips of his ears down to his neck before he covers his face with his hands, briefly glancing down at his wristwatch and placing his hand back immediately as he mumbles into his palms shyly. "It's a quarter past four."

_Oh._

"Uh," Seungmin starts unsurely, starting to walk again while trying to find the right words. "We're almost there and he—my flatmate might already be home."

"You... live together?" Hyunjin peeks from the spaces between his fingers, blinking at him for a few times. "Is he perhaps your brother?"

Seungmin crinkles his nose at that idea and shakes his head. "No, we're not related in any way. I need you to prepare your heart, though."

Wait. _That sounded kind of weird._

Slowly, Hyunjin leans his head back down to give him a weird look, hands now removed from his face as he raises a brow questioningly, cheeks still flushed a light shade of pink. "Um. Prepare my heart...? What do you mean? Is he going to eat me alive or—"

"No," Seungmin says quietly, pressing his lips together as the apartment comes into view from some blocks away.

He can already imagine Hyunjin staring at Jinyoung, with those same wide eyes full of wonder and adoration. Maybe even changing his mind about liking Seungmin and just falling for Jinyoung instead, because he's admired him _forever._

"Do you faint when you get shocked?"

Hyunjin looks at him even more weirdly at that, brows knitted in confusion. "Well, I don't think so? What's going on, should we really be going there?"

"Don't worry, it shouldn't be anything harmful, I think—"

" _Harmful?_ " Hyunjin's staring at him with wide eyes now, but Seungmin immediately shakes his head.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. You'll get shocked, but it won't be unpleasant."

Hyunjin pouts. "I don't follow."

They get closer and closer to the apartment, and as Seungmin slows down his pace, eventually stopping in front of it, he lets out a quiet sigh to himself, silently telling himself he should accept whatever was bound to happen.

"You'll see," he murmurs, but Hyunjin probably doesn't hear it, too invested in moving his head around a lot to look at the place like a curious cat. "Can you ring the doorbell for me?"

"Oh! M'kay," Hyunjin nods and reaches to press the doorbell's button, waiting as they hear the muffled sound of the doorbell coming from inside the apartment.

A few moments later, footsteps can be heard, and soon enough the door's already opening with a voice saying: "Cheri, you left the TV on—oh? Oh."

"Hyung, we still have some bandage here, don't we? And heat packs?"

Seungmin doesn't look at Hyunjin—who fell silent—just yet, and simply helps himself inside, toeing off his shoes and carrying the taller boy into the living room to carefully settle him down on the sofa.

Although, as soon as he turns around to help Hyunjin take the backpack off his shoulders, he sees the boy already turned towards Jinyoung, head automatically following the direction of where he walks, jaws slack and eyes wide as saucers, barely even noticing how his bag is already being taken off.

"Oh yeah, we do. Let me get them for you."

He sees Jinyoung's face with a mixed expression of concerned and amused as he briefly glances at Hyunjin when he passes by, and Seungmin finds himself shaking his head with a smile as Jinyoung disappears from view.

Hyunjin's head quickly turns back to look at him, face still as flabbergasted. "Um, _what?_ "

Even Seungmin feels amused now, seeing the ever so talkative boy suddenly not manage to speak as much as he expected him to. "Now you understand why I was saying all those things."

He crouches down in front of him, reaching for Hyunjin's right foot and very carefully taking off his shoe and sock before setting his foot back down, rolling up the hem of his pant leg to check the damage on his ankle. Seungmin grimaces a bit at how dark and swollen it is. He must have fallen too hard. "I think you might need to stay home for a week or so."

But Hyunjin is still just blinking to himself with a dumbfounded look, so he's probably still too shocked about Jinyoung to think about anything else. Seungmin grabs one of their cushioned footrests and slides it over in front of the taller boy, careful as he lifts his right foot up to place it on top of the footrest for elevation.

"Ri," Jinyoung calls out as his head peeks out from his bedroom's doorframe, holding up two different coloured packets in his hand and waving them around a little. "We have the sticky ones and the pocket heat packs, which do you need?"

"Sticky."

"How many?"

"All."

"A'ight."

Hyunjin just shifts his gaze between the two of them as they talk, as if he still can't believe they're talking like they've known each other since forever. It's amusingly written all over his face.

Jinyoung finally walks back to them, hands Seungmin the packets, a pair of scissors and a roll of bandage before taking a seat on the sofa as well, eyeing Hyunjin's foot. "You never leave the TV on. I think I have a pretty good idea what happened."

Seungmin just rolls his eyes, tearing open a packet and pulling out the heat patch before peeling it and placing it over Hyunjin's ankle gently, patting on it lightly to make sure it sticks. He doesn't know if the action hurt him or not, but even if it did, the taller boy looks like he's still too busy trying to see if the Jinyoung sitting beside him will magically disappear if he blinks hard enough.

Seungmin's heart eases, though, because he's still not looking at Jinyoung the way he expects him to.

"It did happen, but it's still ridiculous," Seungmin snorts quietly as he takes another footrest, sitting on it while facing Hyunjin as he proceeds to carefully wrap the bandage around his foot.

Jinyoung crosses his legs and rests his chin in his hand, raising his brows at him expectantly.

Seungmin lets out a sigh in defeat, continuing to cover up Hyunjin's heel up to his ankle with a couple of layers before cutting the bandage and hooking a metal clip on it to keep it intact. "There were six guys and a leader. Hyunjin took down six then sprained his ankle. I took down the leader when I got there."

Jinyoung looks impressed at first, then he hums and nods, satisfied. "Wow, so I guess your baby boy—"

Seungmin kicks Jinyoung's leg.

"Right. Anyway," Jinyoung finally turns to look at Hyunjin beside him, who's still staring at him like he's a ghost—so Seungmin assumes he didn't process any of their conversation just now—and chuckles a little at his face.

"Nice to finally meet you, Hwang Hyunjin. Cheri's told me all about you. I'm Park Jinyoung," he holds out his hand, which Hyunjin stares at for a while before cautiously taking for a handshake, his eyes still big and confused even as they let go of each other's hands.

Seungmin scoffs and shakes his head to himself, ignoring the sly kick he receives from Jinyoung on his foot. He doesn't understand why he still has to introduce himself while knowing very well how much Hyunjin adores him.

"We met through our parents when he was just seven, and we've been living together ever since Cheri started high school," Jinyoung continues with a grin, resting his back against the sofa comfortably.

Hyunjin suddenly faces Seungmin again. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but he's been calling you 'Cheri' since we got here and I'm confused because he's _Park freaking Jinyoung_ and I'm pretty sure the only Cheri I know who's associated with him is—"

"Yeah," Seungmin nods as he shifts his gaze away from him, rubbing at his nape awkwardly. "Yeah. That Cheri's me."

"Oh my _God,_ " Hyunjin says it in such a tone that makes Seungmin look back at him worriedly, only to find himself widening his eyes a little when he sees the taller boy gazing at him like he hangs the stars up in the sky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hyunjin feels like jumping off a cliff.

Someone's been planning to attack him for weeks, Seungmin knew about it all along and protected him, he apparently has like a black belt wrapped around six other black belts (which is terrifyingly amazing and hot), he also has been living with Park Jinyoung for years, and most important of all—

Seungmin had been _Cheri_ all this time.

"Oh my _God._ "

 _This is all too much._ Too much in one single day for Hyunjin's poor little heart to take.

Cheri is only the name he sees at the end of Jinyoung's videos everytime he ends up falling in love with the song. They're absolutely _ethereal._

And Jinyoung's other songs are still good, but every single song that Hyunjin liked to an enormous extent were all written and composed by Cheri. His songs give off a completely different vibe that overwhelms Hyunjin with a lot of feelings compared to the songs written by the other people, and it's come to the point that before the ending credits even show up, he already knows it's him.

(He also may or may not already be in tears by then but he's not going to admit that anytime soon, given these circumstances.)

He even made this pact with himself before that if he couldn't marry Jinyoung, he'd marry Cheri instead, whoever Cheri was, but he never would have thought it wasn't a girl either (not that he's complaining) and that it's _Kim Seungmin,_ to top it all off.

Hyunjin's said it to himself (and to Chan, and all his six other friends too) countless of times before but if he can be even more sure of himself, it's right now.

"I _love_ you."

It's only when Seungmin stares at him in shock when he realizes he's said it outloud.

"I—I mean," he mentally curses himself as he tries to come up with anything to cover it with, hands moving all about in panic.

"You know, like, a fan. I'm a huge fan of your songwriting. Yeah. All the songs you've written are my absolute favourites," he eventually stops stammering along the way because he's technically still telling the truth, just that when he said 'I love you', he didn't really mean it that way.

It was an _I love you, please marry me_ kind of I love you.

And when Seungmin responds with a quiet _'oh'_ , he can't really tell if it's relief or disappointment.

But... it's probably relief.

He doesn't want to dwell on it now—not when the gods are giving him this blessing of being in the same room as his idol—but after finding out that Seungmin has someone really important to him, how he _lives_ with that important someone and how it's Park Jinyoung, of all people—

It makes him anxious, even though he knows he shouldn't be jumping to conclusions just yet.

"Well," he hears Jinyoung speak up from beside him and immediately turns to look at him, seeing the eldest grinning in what seems to be amusement. "I was so sure I'd be the one you'd be telling something like that to."

"Oh, I—" Hyunjin stutters again, flustered, because he had a point, and he feels like an idiot for not expressing how much he loves Jinyoung now, when he's already right there in front of him. "Of course I absolutely adore you too, Jinyoung-sshi—"

"Hyung is fine," Jinyoung waves him off with a smile, and he's in dire need of screaming—but he stops himself, gripping tightly at the hem of his shirt instead.

"And it's an honour to meet you, _really_ I've known you since forever and I want you to know that you've inspired me so much, I can't believe you were just so near all this time!"

Jinyoung patiently listens to him with a grin as he blabbers on about how he feels about his songs, pretty much dictating every single fan letter he's ever written but never got to give before (fansigning events were always too far or happened during very important dates), until he abruptly stops in the middle of his speech, looking around the living room. "Where's Seungmin?"

Jinyoung sticks out his thumb behind him, pointing towards the kitchen from afar, where he sees Seungmin's figure by the cupboards. "He went there to sulk, most likely," he chuckles, waving a hand dismissively. "I'll go to him later. You can keep talking, I'll be listening."

"Oh," Hyunjin deflates a little, eyes still trained on Seungmin, silently wondering if that had been his fault.

Maybe Seungmin didn't like how he was stealing Jinyoung's attention.

And maybe, just maybe, the way he smiled when he was talking about Jinyoung meant something more.

"No," he musters back up a polite smile, "it's okay! I think you should go to him."

Jinyoung raises a brow, opening his mouth and looking like he's just about to protest, until they both hear a noise coming from the kitchen and see Seungmin accidentally dropping a couple of cereal boxes from the cupboard, and changes his mind. "You're right, I should."

Hyunjin watches Jinyoung stand up and quickly head over towards the younger boy, regretting his decision a bit the moment he sees them being a little too close to each other for his liking.

And it's not his adoration for Jinyoung that's acting up.

Seungmin simply places the cereal boxes back up the cupboards without a word, and he _does_ look like he's sulking, considering the way he refuses to look at Jinyoung in the eye as the older male talks to him in a hushed voice. Jinyoung hooks an arm around the boy's waist in a small side-hug, but Seungmin isn't budging or doing anything to move away from him at all and the sight of that bothers Hyunjin.

Straining his ears, he tries to listen, unable to pick up the entirety of the conversation, but he manages to hear _'don't be mad,' 'I'm sorry,'_ and _'you don't have to be jealous'_.

Hyunjin's heart plummets.

Seungmin was jealous.

Jinyoung murmurs something about cooking Seungmin's favourite dish as he affectionately hugs the boy from behind, and it finally earns him a small smile and a shake of the head, before he puckers up his lips, leaning towards Seungmin's face.

Something inside Hyunjin twists unpleasantly, telling him he should hurry and look away, but his eyes wouldn't listen and everything just happens before him in a flash.

Seungmin rolls his eyes at Jinyoung and pecks him quickly on the lips.

_Oh._

Hyunjin tears his gaze away and swallows down the forming lump in his throat.

That makes sense.

Seungmin literally called Jinyoung his _lifeline,_ after all. Why else would he be living with someone he isn't related to for so long? They've known each other since childhood; it's not even unlikely for them to be dating now.

He lets out a shaky breath, the daunting words slowly sinking in.

_They're dating._

And they're probably the most perfect pair he could ever imagine. A talented singer, dating his talented songwriter.

His sweet, kind-hearted, lovable and precious songwriter, with the prettiest smile in the world.

It's mockingly ironic, how Hyunjin admired Jinyoung not only for his music, but also for having the exact same taste he had in certain things, like food and photography.

He never would have imagined that even the boy they'd like would be the exact same person.

"Hyunjin?"

He glances up at the sound of the voice he so helplessly adored, seeing Seungmin standing at his side, his face quickly distorting into a concerned expression. "Are you okay? Is your ankle hurting?"

The way he gingerly cups Hyunjin's face in his hands makes his heart ache, wishing he hadn't been so caring, so _gentle_ towards him, then maybe he wouldn't have gotten his hopes up and thought he had a chance at all.

"It's—" his voice breaks and he stops, belatedly registering that he had been crying already, a fresh set of tears quickly streaming down his face as soon as Seungmin wipes away the previous ones.

His vision is soon clouded with tears, longingly gazing up at the pair of brown orbs worriedly staring back into his own.

If only the stars in his eyes could grant him a wish.

Maybe then, he'd wish he didn't meet Seungmin a decade too late.

"Yeah," he croaks out a lie, hastily wiping at his eyes with the back of his hands as he hiccups, "it's hurting."

But Hyunjin doesn't feel the pain in his ankle as much as he feels it in his chest, when he realizes that no magic trick could ever help him win over Seungmin's heart anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seungmin stays with him the whole time, arms wrapped around his frame in a warm embrace.

He thinks it's a bit pathetic, but he takes what he can get, nevertheless, holding onto him tightly and burying his face into the other boy's chest until he calms down.

Jinyoung finishes cooking soon after, and they all eat together in the living room with Seungmin seated in between them, the television turned on despite none of them actually paying attention to the show. Jinyoung entertains him by talking about music in general, and he's grateful for it, because it successfully distracts his mind from stubbornly recalling what he witnessed between the two in the kitchen.

That is, until he starts to talk about Seungmin instead; how he used to have cherry red hair by accident as a kid, how he has an insane number of trophies from winning martial arts tournaments, how Hyunjin is the first person he had ever accepted to be his friend (it eases his heart a little), and the whole story of how he got expelled.

He just hopes it doesn't show how his smiles are all forced.

"... and can you believe he said that to the professor _literally_ while they were taking him away in a stretcher? It was all over the net—"

"Hyung, you're enjoying this too much," Seungmin cuts him off, casually shoving a spoonful of rice into the older male's mouth.

Jinyoung chews slowly as he narrows his eyes at Seungmin, who merely sticks his tongue out at him before continuing to eat.

"It's not my fault you've never had friends for me to tell your embarrassing stories to, Cheri."

"You embarrass me enough in front of Mark hyung."

"Mark doesn't count."

"In front of Jae hyung."

"He doesn't count either."

Hyunjin just smiles as they continue bickering with their mouths full, and he doesn't think he's ever seen Seungmin act so... _freely._

The way his voice is slightly louder than what Hyunjin's already gotten used to, how he naturally speaks so much more around Jinyoung, how he easily _smiles_ for more times in two hours than Hyunjin has ever seen in a span of one week—it's almost as if he was seeing a different Seungmin for the second time today.

Suddenly he feels like an idiot for even thinking he was special, just because he's the only one on campus who can make him smile. For thinking that maybe Seungmin might actually like him back, because he wouldn't hesitate to avenge Hyunjin for what happened today, even if it could lead to his second expulsion.

But his previous one wasn't even caused by anything as harmful as someone being attacked by a gang.

It's petty of him to be comparing things this way, but he can't help it—because as despicable as Hyunjin still finds it as a fan, Jinyoung was only _dissed at._ Jinyoung himself said that he didn't even care about it—and yet, Seungmin didn't stand for it. He easily threw away everything he ever worked for in that college just to defend Jinyoung.

He feels defeated. Jinyoung doesn't even have to do magic tricks or make a fool out of himself to make Seungmin laugh. Heck—he doesn't need to do anything at all; Seungmin is clearly _his_ sunshine.

And Hyunjin can't compete with all that.

"Hyunjin, tell Cheri he's being stupid," Jinyoung abruptly pulls him out of his thoughts, so without really thinking, he dumbly does as he's told, forgetting to properly rephrase the words in his head.

"Cheri, you're being stupid."

The look of surprise on Seungmin's face makes him realize what he just said, immediately opening his mouth to apologize, until he notices a faint blush dusting the boy's cheeks and he stops, falling in love just a little more.

 _Pathetic,_ a voice in his head remarks.

He watches Seungmin let out a small, somewhat bashful laugh, and quickly looks away before his heart— _the stupid, damned thing—_ even starts to bloom with hope he clearly shouldn't be having.

Hyunjin convinces himself he was just seeing things and decides he should go.

"Um," he starts, setting down his half empty glass of juice onto the coffee table, "thank you very much for the food, and I'm so sorry for all the trouble."

He tries to move his foot around a little, fighting back a grimace when he feels a sharp pain shoot through his ankle. It still hurts as much as he expects it to even with the heat patch warming it up, but he _really_ wants to go home, and limping his way there sounds like a much better idea right now than staying here and getting his heart shattered.

"My ankle feels better, I think I can walk back home just fine now," _no, he most certainly cannot, and he'd probably end up really breaking a bone by the time he gets there,_ "I already know my way around here too, so I should really—"

"Uh-uh," Seungmin interrupts, shaking his head at him before turning to Jinyoung and gesturing towards the bigger table in the dining room.

"Oh," Jinyoung seems to get the message as he raises his brows and nods, quickly getting on his feet and sauntering over to the table where his phone rests, picking it up and unlocking it. "Yeah, I'm on it."

Hyunjin knits his brows and tilts his head, shooting Seungmin a questioning look. But Seungmin has this fond smile on his face, and all of a sudden, there's a hand reaching up to cup his face, gently caressing his cheek.

Hyunjin feels like crying all over again.

"You're going home in a car or not at all," Seungmin murmurs, and he almost misses it, realizing it only moments later as he blinks in confusion. "In a car? But I thought you didn't have one."

"Christopher does, doesn't he?" Jinyoung speaks up and catches both their attention, seeing him bringing his phone up to his ear while glancing over at Seungmin.

_Christopher?_

Were they going to ask someone else to drive for him?

"He's not having classes anymore, right?"

Seungmin nods. "Just student council work, apparently."

"And he was dismissed at?"

"Three."

"Alright," Jinyoung hums, glancing up at their wall clock. "He must be done by now—Christopher! Hey, please tell me you're finished with work, I need you to drive Hyunjin home."

Hyunjin blinks and worriedly tugs on Seungmin's shirt. "Seungmin, who's Christopher? Please don't tell me you're going to ask someone I don't know to drive me home, I—"

"No," Seungmin shakes his head, chuckling a little, for some reason. "We're not."

"Yeah, he's here at our place, Cheri carried him here after he sprained his ankle and—Christopher, calm down. Anyway I'll send you the location and..."

"What do you mean?" he blinks cluelessly, scratching at the back of his head a little. Seungmin just shrugs with a grin, turning to continue watching Jinyoung on his phone.

"Hyunjin can explain everything else to you later. And I know you're worried, but make sure you don't speed, Chris."

_Chris?_

Jinyoung laughs, shaking his head to himself. "Oh, please. I am never calling you Chan."

Hyunjin blinks. _Chan?_

_Christopher? **Chris?**_

Hold up.

They're not asking a stranger to drive for him. The person on the other line is called Christopher, who seems to prefer being called Chan. He also belongs to the student council, and he has a car.

Chan has a car, and he belongs to the student council. Chan's nickname is also Chris, and it's from his birth name—

_Christopher._

His Chan hyung _is_ their Christopher.

Jinyoung is on the phone right now with _Chan._

Hyunjin inhales sharply.

" _WHAT—_ " he screeches loudly, holding his own head in his hands in disbelief. " _Seungmin—_ "

Seungmin muffles down a laugh into his hand, followed by Jinyoung soon after as they watch him in amusement.

"Chan hyung, you _traitor!_ " he shrieks, fingers gripping tightly at his hair in distress as he recalls every single day and night he spent just talking to Chan about Jinyoung ( _and_ Seungmin) for hours on end.

He can only take so much surprise in one day and he feels like he's about to _combust._

 _"I'm sorry Hyunjins, please don't be mad!"_ he hears Chan's voice and sees Jinyoung holding his phone up in his direction, having put the call on loudspeaker. _"Hyung loves you!"_

With an exasperated scoff, he grabs a pillow from the sofa, buries his face onto it, and _screams._

(Mostly, in embarrassment.)

Jinyoung seems to continue talking to Chan again as he feels Seungmin giving him a few pats on his back, chuckling quietly. "Sorry I didn't tell you."

"It's okay," he lets out a muffled sob into the pillow, feeling his face burn more and more as it all sinks in.

But when Seungmin wraps an arm around him and gently pulls him closer against his side, he, being the huge weakling that he is, immediately curls up into the other boy and rests the side of his head onto his chest, the pillow now resting in his own lap.

 _What happened to wanting to leave right away?_ a voice that suspiciously sounds like Minho mocks him in his head, and he just shoos it away, choosing to savour the way Seungmin carefully holds his hand instead.

Chan probably never knew about their relationship. He had always been so supportive whenever it came to Seungmin, and even if he's tired of hearing Hyunjin talk about him all the time, he really did like Seungmin for him. All his friends did.

Maybe he wasn't even supposed to see what he saw today and they both just didn't see him looking, or they forgot about him being there for a second. Jinyoung might not want his boyfriend to be exposed to the world like that, after all.

Joke's on the girl who thought she could have a chance with Seungmin by driving _Hyunjin_ away.

He was never part of the picture to begin with.

Seungmin pulls him out of his thoughts when he laces their fingers together, giving his hand a gentle squeeze, and it's almost as if he can feel a painful squeeze in his heart at the same time. "Penny for your thoughts?"

_I wish you liked me instead._

"Nothing," he breathes out and shakes his head, closing his eyes to prevent himself from tearing up. "Thank you for everything today."

There's a brief pause, and if Hyunjin feels Seungmin's heart starting to pound loudly against his chest, he tells himself it's all in his head, and hides the single tear that manages to escape his eyes.

"I'd save you any day, sunshine."

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Hyunjins!" a voice yells out about half an hour later, when Jinyoung heads over to open the door after hearing the sound of the doorbell, revealing none other than Chan.

" _No,_ " Hyunjin frowns, puffing up his cheeks sulkily as he turns to look away and snuggles up even closer to Seungmin's chest instead, curling up into his arms. "No Hyunjins. Hyunjins is mad at you!"

He hears Seungmin chuckle and feels a hand fondling with his hair, and it calms him down almost immediately.

Slowly peeking over from Seungmin's shoulder, he sees Chan pretend to sob until Jinyoung puts him in a headlock, messing up his hair with a laugh. "Wow, so you're not even gonna greet your favourite cousin?"

 _Cousin?_ Hyunjin gapes. He has never felt more betrayed in his life.

Chan breaks out into a big smile, giving Jinyoung a really big hug. "Nice seeing you again, hyung! Today's an emergency but I'll visit again soon and bring some food next time for sure."

Jinyoung grins widely in response and cocks his head towards the living room, wiggling his brows, for reasons Hyunjin doesn't quite understand. "Think you should be bringing Hyunjin along next time too."

Chan laughs brightly at that and nods, starting to head over to them and giving Seungmin a friendly grin before he glances down at Hyunjin's ankle, and then at him—so he aggressively cuddles himself into Seungmin's arms again, burying his face into the boy's chest and continuing to sulk.

"Well, if I do bring him along next time I'm afraid he might not want to leave anymore and cling onto Seungmins like this forever, though."

"I'm sure Cheri would love that."

The quiet _'shut up'_ he hears from Seungmin breaks his heart a little, and if Seungmin notices him slowly letting go of his hand, he doesn't say anything.

The three of them talk about the incident from this afternoon, but he doesn't really listen the whole time, too busy internally telling himself _they're dating, they're dating, they're dating,_ as if it was a mantra that would help him stop feeling so heartbroken with the littlest things and just make him accept the truth already.

Chan pats on his shoulder after a while, but he doesn't budge, still feeling a little sulky. "Let's go home, Snowball must be missing you already."

"Snowball likes you more than he likes me."

"Come on, now, little one. It's getting late."

"No."

"Okay, what should I do to make it up to you?"

"You can't."

"Even if we watch all your favourite cartoons until you fall asleep?"

He nods.

"Even if we wear our matching unicorn onesies?"

He pauses and nods slowly.

"I'll let you have two cake pops instead of one after breakfast tomorrow?"

... Tempting.

Quietly, Hyunjin turns his head just a bit, only half of his face visible as he peeks over at Chan. The latter grins widely at that, leaning closer to his face with a tilt of his head. "How's that sound?"

"... Hyunjins wants milk and cookies while watching cartoons," he grumbles through a pout, blushing just a little when he hears Jinyoung and Seungmin chuckle.

"Done," Chan says with a snap of his fingers as he stands up, and slowly, Hyunjin finally sits up to face the older male, mindlessly playing with his own fingers. "Shall we go home now, little one?"

Deciding to completely forget all about sulking now, he nods, arms reaching up for Chan instead as he makes grabby hands at the older male. Chan picks him up in his arms and carries him, so he wraps his arms around the older male's neck and then his legs around his hips, clinging tightly. He finds himself quickly relaxing into his embrace, and he realizes, he really does want to go home.

"Love you," he mumbles, nuzzling his nose onto Chan's cheek affectionately and earning a massive shower of little kisses on his face, making him giggle at the ticklish feeling.

Seungmin and Jinyoung get on their feet as well, following after them while bringing his things as they all head towards the front door.

Soon, he's being placed in the car's front seat by Chan, and Seungmin hands him his shoes, his bag, and a handful of heat patches as soon as he's settled inside, closing the door for him after. But before Seungmin gets the chance to step away from the car, Hyunjin finds himself quickly reaching for the boy's wrist through the window, stopping him in his tracks as he holds his hand—without really knowing why.

Seungmin glances back at him expectantly.

"Uh," he chuckles nervously, shifting his gaze from side to side as he clears his throat. "You should, maybe come over, sometime? I—I'm not sure how long I'll be staying home, you see, and I—" he pauses, biting down on his lip before murmuring a little more quietly, "I think I might miss you."

Seungmin flashes him a soft smile and nods, squeezing his hand briefly before they let go of each other's hands as Chan starts the engine. He then takes a step back to move out of the way, giving him a small wave. "Good night, Hyunjin."

"Good night," he returns the smile before turning to look at Jinyoung to wave him goodbye as well, making him laugh a little when he happily forms a heart with his arms.

As if on cue, he sees Seungmin's expression drastically change, and suddenly he's turning around to walk back into their apartment on his own, even as Chan and Jinyoung are still bidding each other goodbye.

Hyunjin's smile falters as he stares at his retreating back, tears abruptly brimming in his eyes as he looks down, before they finally drive off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end, Chan and Hyunjin don't watch cartoons, wear onesies, or have milk and cookies in the living room.

They end up in Chan's bedroom with Hyunjin curled up into a ball in his lap, the back of his hands covering his eyes as he cries his heart out until he falls asleep, with Chan rocking him back and forth in his arms.

On the other hand, Seungmin goes straight to bed and covers himself with a blanket from his toes up to his head, ignoring Jinyoung and just pretending he's asleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 _**from: little christopher (22:13)** _  
_**to: jinyoungs** _

_hyung do you remember when i first punched you when we were kids_

 

 _**from: jinyoungs (22:17)** _  
_**to: little christopher** _

_how could i ever forget your rudeness towards my affection_

 

 _**from: little christopher (22:19)** _  
_**to: jinyoungs** _

_that's because you always forget that most people aren't raised to know that kissing on the lips doesn't have to be romantic for everyone_

_you kiss seungmins too don't you_

_there is literally nO OTHER REASON I CAN THINK OF RIGHT NOW_

_hyunjins has been crying for hours and i can't believe i'm saying this but i prefer him squealing and hugging the floor_

 

 _**from: jinyoungs (22:23)** _  
_**to: little christopher** _

_oh,, i didn't realize that_

_no wonder he was acting kind of weird_

_don't blame me it's because my bb loves me as much as i love my bb it's normal_

_aND HEY, CHERI'S SULKING BECAUSE OF YOU TOO YOU KNOW_

_you were carrying hyunjin all intimately and kissing all over his face and everything_

_, not that i don't do the same with cheri but that's besides the point_

_so dON'T PUT THE WHOLE BLAME ON ME_

 

 _**from: little christopher (22:27)** _  
_**to: jinyoungs** _

_, oh_

_ok fair enough this is both our fault_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is it not boring yet because i can't really tell after rereading everything _so many times,,,_  
>  it feels like the transition and the flow's all messed up i'm sorry sgdhf i'll probably check this again when i wake up and end up editing mistakes  
> please tell me what you think in the comments!!  
> -  
> special thanks to:  
> Atumun15 ( ~~ _hi i adore you_~~ ), badpunning, Her_Stray_Wonder, ivytlz, Mindwaves, momodanik, Moonlightfairy, Nubhawk, nia_so, opheliacalm, shyunjae, solelyapart, starryfelix, Stay98, weebwoojin, woojinshands and youwotm8  
> for reading my 2min oneshot because it is my Baby and knowing that you are/have been here too makes me happy. <3  
> (and if i perhaps mentioned you by mistake i'm sorry gdsgkd)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok first of all—205 kudos??? you guys are iNSANE, thank you so much i love all of you!! <3  
> second i'm so sorry for taking so damn long to update, this certain Tendency visited me again where i come up with so many possible new plots for dozens of new stories all at once and it kinda made it hard to get back on track shdkfj i don't even know if my writing style is still the same but i hope that if it's not, it changed for the better _c ries_  
>  ~~years of telling myself i should really just stick to writing oneshots and here i am still being a stubborn lil shit skdjd~~  
>  anyway here's a 5.6k worded update, enjoy!

The rumours Seungmin hears the following morning take him by surprise.

From what he can understand, the girl who was responsible for the whole incident had disappeared, and it's not that she got expelled or that she dropped out on her own accord. Students keep saying some people—or a gang, as some others say—had broken into her house this morning and literally forced her out of town, and though Seungmin doesn't really understand everything, he's still glad to know she won't get to do any funny business with Hyunjin anymore.

Naturally, a lot of students also talk about him and Hyunjin being mad street fighters—which doesn't surprise him in the least, since the incident didn't happen all that far from the university, after all, and if he remembers it right, he probably even saw a few students pass by yesterday. It causes everyone to take a step back from him wherever he goes now, and in all honesty, he likes it much better this way.

Although, two of his classmates in his last period approach him after they're dismissed, introducing themselves as Changbin and Jisung, which he luckily remembers to be Hyunjin's friends. Though he's a little surprised at how comfortable and calm they behave around him—in contrast to everyone else, who were just scared shitless—he's somewhat relieved for that, because despite not usually being one to care about what impression he gives off to people, he wouldn't want Hyunjin's friends thinking he was someone dangerous. Hyunjin _would,_ in a way, also be considered dangerous then, but they don't know everything about Seungmin like they know Hyunjin, so he's glad they at least seem to trust him.

They thank him for taking care of Hyunjin and ask him if he wants to come along with them to visit the boy, but he politely declines the invitation, not entirely keen on the idea of possibly seeing Chris and Hyunjin in the same room again just yet.

Which, he admits, is petty of him.

For the first time in a long while, he couldn't sleep properly from thinking too much. Insecurities and doubts had been running around his head since yesterday, and even if he'd hate to admit it, he's... a little scared. The fact that he's a little scared somehow scares him even more too, because that just goes to show how he's already in too deep, and that has never happened before.

Hyunjin likes him; anyone with eyes can see that. But that's pretty much all Seungmin can be sure about now—just the mere fact that Hyunjin has this crush on him, and he's only now realizing that it technically doesn't guarantee anything more. For all he knows, maybe Hyunjin himself isn't aware that he loves Chris more than just a brotherly figure, and then he'll realize those feelings eventually. Or maybe, he could completely fall in love with Jinyoung the very next chance he gets to see him again.

Either way, to him, a simple crush suddenly didn't feel like a big deal anymore, compared to whatever it is Hyunjin has with Chris or Jinyoung.

Jinyoung seemed to have picked up on his worrying, but he didn't say anything about it this morning, which he's grateful for. Still, Seungmin doesn't quite feel like going home just yet, so he goes to the library to distract himself with some books.

Except, to his misfortune, that's where he bumps into Chris.

"Seungmins!" he hears a delighted gasp as soon as he pulls out a book from the shelf, greeted by the sight of the older male happily waving from the other side while peering over from the small space between the books. " **Hey! Nice seein' ya, mate!** "

He barely gets to process anything before Chris already disappears from view, his hand left hanging in the air in a failed attempt to wave back until he eventually sees the boy to his right, quickly walking up to him with a smile. " **Great timing!** I got out early so I was just about to head home. **You should come with! Hyunjins would love to see you.** "

For some reason, saying no to Chris feels a lot more difficult compared to Changbin and Jisung. Maybe it's the way he seems to genuinely like Seungmin—probably because of Hyunjin or Jinyoung, or both of them—that even yesterday, he had been so comfortable around Seungmin that he somehow kept unconsciously slipping back to his mother tongue when he spoke to him. (Jinyoung had once told him it's a tendency of his whenever Chris found out someone understood English.)

In a way, maybe Chris even fondly considers them as friends because they both know Hyunjin and Jinyoung, so whatever excuse Seungmin automatically comes up with in his head somehow just end up getting stuck in his throat.

He slowly slides the book back into the shelf in defeat. "Sounds good."

 

 

 

 

 

 

"You don't mind if we stop by at the bakery, do you?" Chris asks him a while later, when they're almost halfway to the apartment. "We ended up not getting to buy any cookies at all last night; he just kept crying all the way home."

Seungmin perks his head up at that and looks at him in concern, and the shorter male just gives him a small grin as they cross the street. " **Big crybaby, ain't he?** Cried himself to sleep at home too."

He wonders just how hard Hyunjin must have fallen that his ankle would hurt that badly again. Maybe he should have taken him to a clinic instead of just bringing him home. Or to a therapist of some kind—

"Funny thing is, when I asked him if his ankle was hurting, he shook his head and kept crying."

It's only after a little while, when they're already on their way out of the bakery with a jar full of cookies, does it dawn onto him and make him stop in his tracks.

"Oh."

He had forgotten about kissing Jinyoung.

It just always came so naturally between them that they must have done it in front of Hyunjin without really thinking, and so they didn't even remember to _explain_ anything.

_That's why Hyunjin was crying._

It couldn't have been the sprain; if it was really so painful, he would have already been crying before they even left the alley yesterday.

It all adds up. He must think they're dating. That Seungmin was jealous because Jinyoung was giving Hyunjin attention.

It was his fault that he cried. _Shit._

If Chris notices how he starts walking just a little faster, he doesn't say anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Chris pushes the front door open for them, they're both greeted with the sight of seven guys in the living room, two of them holding game consoles, the rest of them in the middle of cheering and screaming at the TV or eating chips.

Hyunjin is seated in the middle of the sofa across the TV screen beside four other guys, his injured foot resting atop a footrest situated between the two players—which he now recognizes to be Changbin and Jisung—seated down on the carpet.

It takes a few seconds before their presence is first noticed by the blonde boy on Hyunjin's left, and upon sight of Seungmin, for some reason, he brightens up immediately and waves. "Seungmin! Hey!"

Comically, everyone else turns their heads at the same time to face him, and to his surprise, they greet him with pretty much the same amount of enthusiasm as Chris and the blonde boy had (except for Hyunjin, who's just adorably staring at him with big eyes now), casually addressing him by his name even though he's pretty sure he doesn't know most of theirs, and some of them are even patting the spaces beside them as a gesture for him to sit—as if he had belonged in their friend group all these years.

And belonging in a friend group had never been something he experienced before, so his natural response to their actions is, of course, to be overwhelmed.

"Uh," he instinctively takes a tentative step back, ready to walk back out the door. "I'll just—"

Just then, aside from Hyunjin, they all give him a panicked look, shaking their heads quickly yet subtly and gesturing over to Hyunjin's direction with their eyes.

He follows their gazes and finds himself immediately stepping back inside at the sight of the tall boy sadly looking down at his hands, bottom lip jutting out in a little pout.

"—stay here, for a while, if it's okay with everyone...?"

Hyunjin's head perks back up, and his eyes are sparkling again, so everyone lets out silent sighs of relief.

"I'm sure everyone would love to have you, right guys?" Chris speaks up, and they all respond at the same time with mixed and almost incoherent words of agreement as they nod aggressively, standing up and making way for him to sit on the sofa beside Hyunjin—which somewhat amuses him, because 'beside Hyunjin' seemed to be what they all automatically recognize as Seungmin's rightful place.

"Seungmins got you your favourite cookies by the way! He insisted on paying for it himself," Chris cheerily adds, showing the paper bag in Seungmin's hand, and when Hyunjin lifts his arms up to curl his fingers and make grabby hands at it, Seungmin finally heads over to hand him the bag, awkwardly standing beside the others.

Hyunjin briefly takes a peek inside the bag with a happy little smile at the sight of the jar of cookies before setting it down carefully on the coffee table and reaching his arms out again, curling his fingers once more towards Seungmin this time while looking up at him with his soft, doe eyes, head tilting to the side just slightly. "Seungminnie."

A smile easily finds its way to his features at the sight, despite the presence of people he barely knows of, and it's something that doesn't usually happen so it feels a tad strange—but when Hyunjin smiles even brighter at that, it also surprisingly feels just fine.

So he swoops him up in a warm embrace as he settles down beside him, letting the boy happily throw his arms around his neck as he, on the other hand, wraps his arms around the boy's waist. He hears cooing everywhere, and it's only then do they comfortably plop back down in their seats, as if they were just waiting for him and Hyunjin to settle down together.

"Seungminnie," Hyunjin affectionately curls up against him, nuzzling himself further into Seungmin's embrace like he did last night, only in a much clingier manner this time around, and heck—Seungmin doesn't mind the slightest bit. "Yeah?"

Hyunjin buries his face onto his chest, hugging him even tighter. "Missed you."

Seungmin doesn't know what he ever did to deserve him. He was the reason Hyunjin cried, yet, the first thing he asks for is a hug and the first thing he tells him is that he missed him.

"I think he's already forgotten the rest of us are still here," the blonde boy beside Hyunjin glances down at his curled up figure in amusement before shooting Seungmin a friendly grin and a salute. "Felix. **How ya goin', mate?** "

"You do know he's Korean, don't you," one of the boys seated on the carpet points out, and before Felix gets to apologize when he gasps in realization, Chris speaks up with a dismissive wave of his hand and a somewhat smug and proud grin. "No it's fine, Jeongin. He can speak English too."

Seungmin manages to simply smile in amusement, but he swears he nearly laughed at their comical, shocked expressions.

And for reasons he doesn't really understand, they all end up introducing themselves to him in an attempt to have Australian, American, British, and other accents he isn't quite sure actually exist. Changbin and Jisung introduce themselves again too, just so they could join in on the fun.

For the next few hours, he finds himself getting to know all of them at once without feeling exhausted about it like he expects—and it's nice, because even though they don't really give him all their attention (mainly because they're still playing video games), they somehow still manage not to make him feel like he's an outcast at all.

Hyunjin, on the other hand, gives his attention only to him the whole time, completely paying everyone else no mind. Seungmin honestly doesn't know if he should feel sorry for them, or just be happy for himself.

The boy stays curled up against Seungmin's chest, holding onto him like his life depends on it and asking him little questions every now and then about how his day went. His hands carefully fist along the material of Seungmin's shirt in an endearing manner everytime he talks to him, as if it's his own quiet way of asking for Seungmin to pay attention only to him, and Seungmin really wouldn't have it any other way. For the most part, though, Hyunjin just stays quiet and snuggles close to him.

Seungmin finds it heartwarming how they all have this fond look on their faces whenever they glance at the tall boy—who has long since forgotten about their presence now—fitting himself into Seungmin's arms, despite constantly teasing him for being a hopeless case. He looks like that one baby in a group everyone looks after, even though Seungmin's quite sure at least one of them is younger, based on his high school uniform.

"You have wonderful friends," he murmurs quietly as he ducks his head down just a little, nose lightly nuzzling the top of Hyunjin's head.

Hyunjin leans out just a bit from his semi-permanent position of having his face planted onto Seungmin's chest (long enough that it shouldn't even be comfortable), looking up and blinking at him with his adorable, doe eyes before they disappear beneath cute crescents as he smiles brightly with a small giggle. "They make fun of me a lot, but yes."

Everyone else is too absorbed in the heated match between Jeongin and Woojin to notice them, all heads leaning forward towards the TV screen, so Seungmin takes that chance to plant a quick peck on the boy's nose, watching him crinkle it in response before ducking down to poke his head into the crook of Seungmin's neck, letting out a happy little hum.

Dinner eventually arrives at the doorstep in the form of fast food takeout right after Minho confesses to everyone about secretly using the apartment's landline to order pizza and fries under Chris' name an hour beforehand, and suddenly, it's like they're having their own little house party. (But Seungmin feels bad for Chris too so he takes a mental note to slip at least half the amount he assumed he paid for in the older boy's bag when no one's looking.)

"Seungmin," Hyunjin holds up a french fry for him with an expectant look on his face, so he lifts a hand to take it, belatedly realizing what the boy had really wanted him to do when he still doesn't let go of the french fry and just pouts at his actions.

"... Oh," he blinks dumbly, awkwardly retracting his hand and setting it back down in his lap.

It gets him a little flustered in surprise, because aside from when he was a child having to drink milk from a bottle, Seungmin can't really recall any other memory of him being fed by anyone before.

Surely enough, he sees the shit-eating grins on the others' faces from the corners of his eyes the moment Hyunjin tells him to _'say ahh,'_ like that overused scene he would always see in cheesy, overrated romance films he never enjoyed watching.

Seungmin's already too smitten to say no.

So he quietly does as he's told and lets himself be carefully fed, but the pretty smile that quickly adorns Hyunjin's face as he claps happily makes everything worth it.

"Hooray for my very first fast food dinner with Seungminnie!"

Seven pairs of eyes simultaneously narrow into slits as they share confused looks with one another.

"The hell does he mean _'very first fast food dinner'?_ "

"Hang on, has he been taking Hyunjin to fancy restaurants all this time—"

 

 

 

 

 

 

A while later, as he gives a small, unsure wave at Chris and the other six—who quickly roll down the car windows to wave back at him a little too cheerily as they drive off—he realizes it's a set up.

The split-second puzzled looks on their faces when Chris offered to drive everyone home didn't go unnoticed by Seungmin anyway, so it didn't really surprise him anymore when Chris told him he should stay with Hyunjin in the meantime to keep him company, since he doesn't live all that far from here.

Seungmin doesn't mind, though.

He turns around to walk back to the front door, but just as he's about to step inside, his ringtone for Jinyoung goes off in his pocket, so he stops in his tracks and fishes out his phone to quickly answer the call. "Hyung."

_"Cheri! Just calling to let you know you're not allowed to come back home unless everything with Hyunjin's all fixed."_

Seungmin blinks for a few times as he processes the sentence before he slowly grins, amused. "And here I thought you were calling to nag me to come home soon."

Jinyoung lets out a scoff. _"Don't be silly, Christopher and I aren't about to tolerate sulking babies in our own homes forever. You'd be such a headache, you know. You especially."_

"Shut up, you love me."

_"Touché. Now hurry your ass up and fix everything so you can come home soon you little shit."_

Seungmin ends up doubling over in laughter at that, lightly shaking his head to himself in fondness. "Okay, okay. Don't forget to eat your dinner; it's in the fridge so just heat it up. I love you."

_"I love you too."_

The corners of his lips unconsciously tug up into a small smile as he feels a tiny weight fall off his shoulders, and he lets out a small breath of relief as he hangs up and pockets his phone, glad to have been able to talk to Jinyoung normally again after what felt like such a long while—even though it's only been a day.

Now he just needs to clear things up with Hyunjin.

Turning back around, he turns the knob and pushes the door open to step back inside the apartment, but just as he closes the door, he realizes Hyunjin isn't seated on the sofa anymore and is already limping his way somewhere else, hands holding onto the wall for support. "Hyunjin—"

"I'm fine," Hyunjin quickly cuts him off with a small tremble in his voice, continuing to limp away a little faster. "I can walk by myself. I just, need to go to my room."

Seungmin knits his brows and starts marching his way towards the boy. "No, I'll help you."

"Seungmin, really it's—" Hyunjin doesn't get to finish his sentence, a single, wrong step abruptly making him fall down to the floor with a loud thud.

Seungmin widens his eyes and immediately runs his way over, crouching down in front of the boy to help him up, but it takes him by surprise when Hyunjin shrinks away, curling up into himself with a small whimper and burying his face into his hands. Soon, though, he hears a few sniffles and some quiet hiccups, and then—everything suddenly clicks.

He heard Seungmin talking on the phone.

"Hyunjin, listen—"

"You don't have to stay," Hyunjin murmurs, his voice ever so small and frail that Seungmin nearly doesn't catch it. "I've taken care of myself just fine without Chan hyung the whole day. It—it sounds like you need to go home soon."

Seungmin promptly drops to his knees and pulls Hyunjin into his arms.

There's a pause as Hyunjin briefly stills at the action, but soon enough, he's already melting into his embrace, hands fisting tightly into his shirt as he buries his face onto his chest with a small hiccup.

"Does your ankle hurt?" Seungmin asks just in case, but Hyunjin just shakes his head, sniffling and wiping away at his eyes with the back of his hands, so he proceeds to glance around to look for the boy's room, seeing two closed doors nearby and spotting a small note stuck onto one of them.

 

_Hyunjin!!! I took Snowball with me. Also Chan hyung. They are my soulmates. Will give them back tomorrow! Maybe!_

_You can thank me later with cheesecake!_

_\- Jisung_

 

Looking back down at Hyunjin, he presses a kiss onto the side of his head before he stands up, carrying the boy in his arms.

"S—Seungmin...?" Hyunjin finally looks up at him in surprise, eyes big and slightly puffy, as he continues to let out involuntary little hiccups.

But Seungmin finds himself smiling, because despite Hyunjin's questioning gaze, he can still feel a pair of arms habitually wrapping around his neck and long legs carefully hooking around his waist.

He doesn't say anything and just walks his way over to the door with the sticky note, figuring it must belong to Hyunjin, before opening it and stepping inside. Hyunjin just holds onto him tighter, head nestled into the crook of his neck as Seungmin closes the door and brings them both to the boy's bed.

He sits down on the edge, with Hyunjin now settled onto his lap, and tightens his arms around the boy's waist as he murmurs, "What are you thinking of?"

Hyunjin carefully leans out from Seungmin's shoulder to wipe at his cheeks with one of his hands, head lowered as he simply croaks out, "You."

Seungmin waits for him to continue, but it doesn't come. He reaches up to cup the boy's cheek, gently coaxing him to meet his gaze and Hyunjin obeys, teary eyes staring back into his own.

"Me, and Jinyoung hyung. Right?"

Hyunjin's eyes instantly widen, and he looks so _crestfallen_ it makes Seungmin's heart ache. Tears start brimming in his eyes as he slowly retracts his arms from around Seungmin's neck, hands now gripping onto the hem of his shirt as he guiltily looks back down.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, his hands trembling as his shoulders start shaking. "I know I shouldn't be like this; I should be happy for you and him. And—and I think I am, because I adore you both a whole lot, and wow, he's—" he pauses to let out a humorless chuckle, harshly wiping away at his cheeks as soon as tears fall from his eyes. "He's so _perfect_ for you. And I'm... I don't think I would have even stood a chance. So I'm, I guess I'm just... sad, for myself?"

"Wait," Seungmin hold Hyunjin's hands, giving them a small squeeze. "Listen—"

"But you don't have to worry," Hyunjin bites down on his lip, hiccupping and sniffling quietly. "I know how hard it's going to be for both of you, if his fans... you know, find out about it. I won't—I won't tell anyone. I wouldn't do anything to cause either of you any trouble."

"Hyunjin, it's not like that—"

"And I'll pretend I never saw anything, I swear I'll do my best to _forget,_ " he cries out as his voice breaks, pulling himself away from Seungmin as he gets back on his feet, sobbing uncontrollably into his hands. "I'll forget all about it, so please... Let me have this one night and just—forget this ever happened. Please don't let this change anything between us, I'll—I'll make sure I'll... get over you," he whimpers out that last bit so _brokenly_ , hands on his face as he continues to helplessly wipe away the tears that don't seem to stop flowing out.

Seungmin feels his heart break at the sight.

"Hyunjin, wait," he stands up hastily and takes the boy's hands into his own again, but Hyunjin ends up crying even more, shaking his head and trying to pull his hands back weakly as he struggles to step away from him.

"Please, I—" Hyunjin sharply sucks in a breath and chokes down another sob, "Just this one night, Seungmin, _please,_ I need you to leave me alone..."

But Seungmin pulls him back into his arms and just holds him tightly, keeping him close despite the boy's attempts to push him away, before murmuring, "You know I can't do that, sunshine."

That's when Hyunjin slowly gives in and just holds onto him helplessly as he cries his heart out onto his shoulder, his body shaking violently in Seungmin's arms.

"Why couldn't it have been me...? It's just so unfair," he fists his hands into Seungmin's shirt, gazing up at him so sadly and looking so, so afraid and small. "I like you so much..."

Seungmin's gaze softens.

Knowing it to himself is one thing and seeing it with his own eyes is another, but actually, _really_ hearing it from Hyunjin—it almost feels surreal.

It's evident in his voice how afraid he is of the rejection he already expects, and yet, he says it so bravely. His voice is unsteady and his bottom lip quivers all the while, but Seungmin can tell he's doing his best to still say it properly. He's a sobbing mess and he barely constructs his sentences before he says them, but Seungmin still finds it beautiful how he openly shows how fragile and vulnerable he really is.

He was far from perfect, but Seungmin wouldn't trade him for the world.

"Hyunjin," he gingerly cups the boy's face in his hands, gently thumbing away his tears. "Listen to me first."

With a hiccup, Hyunjin finally nods without a word, fingers tightly curling into his own shirt as if he's already bracing himself for something painful. Seungmin then caresses his cheeks in a silent way of reassuring him it's okay, and when Hyunjin takes a few, deep breaths on his own without having to be told, Seungmin finds himself smiling fondly.

"There we go," he brushes his fingers through the boy's soft locks in a soothing manner, watching him calm down little by little as his breathing finally starts to even out. "Come here," he carefully guides them both back onto the mattress, smiling just a little wider when Hyunjin lets himself be settled back into his lap, his hands now reaching to hold onto Seungmin's shirt again as he stares up at him with beady eyes.

"Listen," he starts, making sure he says the next few words as carefully and as clearly as he can, "Jinyoung hyung and I are not dating."

Seungmin watches Hyunjin's eyes widen in shock as he blinks incredulously at him, his mouth opening and closing for a few times before he blurts out, "But you—in the kitchen, I swear I saw—"

It's Hyunjin who stops himself from stammering, brows knitting together in confusion until it suddenly disappears, blinking to himself and slumping down his shoulders dejectedly as he lets out a quiet, "Oh."

It's Seungmin's turn to be confused. " _Oh?_ "

"So you—" Hyunjin starts to get choked up again, forcing himself to swallow down the lump in his throat. "You're giving me a chance, because he doesn't return your feelings...?"

"He _what?_ " Seungmin gapes a little at him before blinking and quickly shaking his head. "Hyunjin, you're getting this all wrong. That kiss was nothing but platonic. From _both_ sides. What ever made you think I would like him that way?"

Hyunjin's already beginning to cry again, whimpering softly and covering his eyes with his fists in the manner of a little child. "You're just, so _happy_ around him. I've never seen you smile like that before... I've—I've never heard you _speak_ so much before and you just seem so comfortable and secure around him. I could never amount to—I haven't even known you for twelve months, he's been with you for twelve _years._ What if you actually like him and you just, don't... know it yet...?"

It somewhat surprises Seungmin, because Hyunjin had been worrying about Jinyoung the exact same way _he_ had been worrying about Chris.

"Hyunjin," he sighs, pulling the boy a little closer against him and resting his forehead onto his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I never meant to make you feel like I don't trust you enough to act the way I do around him. It's just that having someone around to spend time with, getting to know so many people all at once, _speaking_ —it's all just really foreign to me unless it's Jinyoung hyung, because all my life, he's all I ever had."

He feels Hyunjin's arms slowly wrapping around him once more, holding him back tight and sniffling quietly, but he stays silent, waiting.

"It's going to be a long story, but—you see, my parents never really cared about me," he continues with a chuckle, finding it a bit strange to talk about them again after so long. Hyunjin stills at his words and murmurs a soft _'I'm sorry,'_ but he just shakes his head and leans out a little to give him a reassuring smile. "All they cared about was the reputation I had to uphold for them. Whenever I did even the smallest mistakes as a child, things didn't turn out very pretty. At some point, I used to be... you know, a _normal_ kid."

Hyunjin instantly frowns at that last bit, so Seungmin pauses to lean in and press his lips onto the boy's forehead, easily kissing it away. "I was a normal kid, who stubbornly talked back to his parents and cried whenever he got scolded. But I realized it only made things worse, so one day, I decided to just stop talking altogether and started forcing myself not to cry anymore until it became as easy as breathing air. Hiding all my other emotions was a breeze after that."

There's that sad look on Hyunjin's face again and it makes him frown just a bit, reaching up a hand to fondle with the boy's hair as he continues. "Jinyoung hyung was only thirteen when we first met, but he was smart and he could already tell something was off about my parents. He couldn't get me to open up to him all that easily too, but with his grade A stubbornness and some... poorly delivered puns to try and make me laugh, he managed to squeeze himself into my life. You're actually quite similar," he chuckles fondly, watching the way Hyunjin's cheeks colour at his statement.

"He also let me secretly go to different martial arts schools so I could defend myself at home. Now that I think about it, my parents weren't even that strong to begin with so I didn't really have to go all out, but martial arts turned out to be something I liked, so I ended up—you know," he grins sheepishly with a shrug, relieved to see Hyunjin finally allowing himself to smile at that.

"Jinyoung hyung got to enroll you into schools... by himself?" he asks softly as he tilts his head, blinking curiously.

"Well—yeah," Seungmin laughs a little as he reaches up to rub at his nape, nodding. "As a kid, I didn't quite understand all the things he went through back then, but he did everything he could for me after he promised me a better life. He started working multiple part-time jobs in high school and juggled those jobs along with his studies and the start of his music career during college—all just to save up enough money to take me away from my parents once and for all, when I turn sixteen. Getting me into martial arts schools was to keep me safe while I waited. My parents could care less by the time I finally moved in with him, but I wouldn't have had it any other way; it was one of the best birthdays we've ever shared together.

"He provided everything for me since then. He pays for our food and rent, my tuition fee, my allowance—he even got mad at me that one time I considered taking a single part-time job back in high school because I wanted to help with the expenses," he rolls his eyes, grinning when it makes Hyunjin giggle silently.

"So when I found myself learning how to write songs, I told him about it immediately, and I was so _delighted,_ because I could finally do something for him in return, and that something made him proud of me," he lets out a sigh, smiling at the thought. "Don't tell him I told you this, but to me, he's like a dad, a mom, a big brother and a best friend—all at the same time. I guess that's why I never really minded that I didn't have any parents anymore and that no one else had tried as hard as he did to become someone important to me, because I already had him. My whole life, my world really just revolved around him. But then—"

He pauses, looking back into Hyunjin's hopeful eyes with a loving gaze before reaching up and stroking the boy's cheek with the back of his hand. "Then there was you."

Hyunjin's eyes turn just the slightest bit bigger as he gulps, blinking rapidly and hesitantly opening his mouth, only to end up closing it again.

Seungmin then takes a deep breath, and says, "I like you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~blake cliffhangerson that's my name~~  
>  i can't believe this fic is at 25.2k words and it's so Plotless™ am i the only one thinking that,,,  
> i'm just really thankful that you guys still take the time to show me you appreciate this story and if i could like, give kudos back to all of you for being amazing people i would!!  
>  ~~please tell me what you think in the comments i honestly don't know if i'm doing this right anymore omf~~  
>  —  
> also: calling the attention of all 2min shippers again!! ( ~~i hope you all know it's seungmin x minho shdj~~ )  
> [this fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17160839%22) now has a valentine's special, hooray!!1! to those who have already read it, thank you so so much! <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok originally i was going to post this tomorrow because of my april fool's post but it's been _so long_ and it wouldn't feel fair to you guys if i posted this a whole day after i finished writing it instead of posting it right away, sO HERE  
> anyway i'm not gonna lie this was supposed to be the last chapter; i already had an outline prepared and everything but then suddenly bAM i had some ideas and i thought: h ey this could work this is perfect it's just what i needed to make this feel less plotless and a little more Complete™ wHOOP LET'S GET IT  
> it took me so long and yet it's only 4.3k words and i'm sorry,,, shdjkg i hope you enjoy nevertheless!!

"Hyunjin, I like you," Seungmin repeats more firmly, because Hyunjin is still silently blinking and looking like he's trying to see if he was just dreaming, so he knows he has to make it clear. "You're the one I like. Not Jinyoung hyung. I want to date _you._ "

Hyunjin then holds his breath and stills, staring into Seungmin's eyes as he seemingly searches for something, and when he doesn't find it, he claps a hand over his mouth and widens his eyes, a fresh set of tears abruptly flowing out and rolling down his cheeks.

Seungmin doesn't get to say anything more when Hyunjin all but tackles him down the mattress in a tight hug with a choked sob, because just as he opens his mouth to do so, Hyunjin leans back and, to his surprise, swoops right back in to kiss him.

It's unsteady; quite messy, even—because Hyunjin is still crying, but Seungmin holds him even tighter and lovingly runs his fingers through the boy's locks, kissing him back as gingerly as possible, and _damn,_ how long he had wanted to do this.

Their teeth clash a little every now and then and he can tell it's his first time, but just like everything else he's ever done to make Seungmin happy, Hyunjin gives it his all, and really—Seungmin wouldn't have it any other way.

They carefully break the kiss at the same time to catch their breaths, and—

And Hyunjin looks so beautiful.

His cheeks are flushed a pretty shade of pink, and suddenly he looks shy as he bites down on his slightly swollen bottom lip— _damn_ he looks gorgeous—and only then does Seungmin slowly put two and two together and realizes what he did. "Did I say that outloud?"

Hyunjin bites back a shy little smile as Seungmin reaches up to gently thumb away the boy's tears, nodding and hiccupping quietly, "You s—said, I looked beautiful."

Unable to stop himself, Seungmin catches his plump lips into another brief kiss, smiling softly when the pink on Hyunjin's cheeks turns a shade darker. "You do."

In a small voice, Hyunjin quietly asks if he could have another kiss, and Seungmin gladly gives him not only one—but two, three times more, maybe four, until he loses count and Hyunjin's already giggling in between the shower of kisses.

Seungmin carefully sits them both back up and easily maneuvers Hyunjin along with him to the center of the bed, resting his back against the headboard and letting the boy comfortably snuggle up against his chest, his cheek adorably smushed up against Seungmin's in an affectionate manner.

Lifting up a hand, he caresses the back of the boy's head and pulls him even closer by the waist with his other, letting out a silent, content sigh. "I really did miss you, today. It felt weird not seeing any tricks, and—"

"OH!" Hyunjin nearly gets him deaf from the sudden outburst and he flinches just as the boy straightens up, who belatedly realizes his mistake and murmurs a soft _'sorry'_ before leaning in to give Seungmin's right ear a featherlight smooch in apology.

Seungmin blinks rapidly, gaping just a little, but Hyunjin's already busy reaching over to his nightstand to open the drawer, pulling out a small notebook and flipping through the pages with knitted brows and a tiny pout.

Seungmin reaches up to touch his ear, the tingling feeling still very much there, and he exhales quietly. "You're going to drive me crazy."

"I'm going to what? Oh no... I didn't expect you would visit today so I didn't even have anything scheduled and I couldn't practice any of the new tricks yet..." he hears Hyunjin mumble distractedly—to himself more than Seungmin, it seems—but what's written on the cover of the notebook catches his attention instead.

_Magic Tricks for My Magical Prince ♥_

Oh _. Oh_.

Hyunjin had been planning out everything for him _all this time._

Seungmin doesn't know how much more precious the boy could get.

It gets Hyunjin out of his trance when he ends up laughing quietly, seeing the boy blinking up at him and then down at his notebook cover. "What? Why is this funny? Do you have _any_ idea how magical you are!"

Seungmin laughs even more at how endearing he is, reveling in the way Hyunjin pouts bigger at him before answering him with a smile. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"See?" Hyunjin crosses his arms childishly with his chin up in the air, before he stills and furrows his brows. "What?"

"Remember when you gave me a rose the first time we met?"

"... Yes," he pauses unsurely, a puzzled look on his face. "But I don't follow."

"You know why I wasn't surprised?"

"Well no I—I don't," he puffs up his cheeks, seemingly recalling what happened.

Seungmin purses his lips to hide a smile, his hand reaching behind Hyunjin's ear—who just looks confused, at first—but then Seungmin pulls his hand back in between them, and Hyunjin's jaws drop.

With a grin, Seungmin twirls a sunflower in his fingers and places it by Hyunjin's ear, pressing a soft peck onto the boy's gaping mouth.

"Oh my _God,_ " Hyunjin laughs incredulously, slapping a hand to his forehead and dragging it down his face before blinking to himself in disbelief as he stares down at his notebook. "Fuck. I am mortified."

"Don't worry, two-thirds of your tricks so far are those I've never done before," Seungmin quickly adds, seeing the dejected way Hyunjin puts his notebook back into his drawer before the boy turns back to him and stares at him hard.

"And a whole third of them are those you _have?_ "

"... Yes."

"I hate you."

"You don't."

"I _do._ "

Seungmin turns his wrist and flicks it with practiced ease, nudging Hyunjin's favourite cake pop towards the boy as a peace offering.

Hyunjin glances at it and crosses his arms sulkily as he tries to bite back a smile, but he soon takes it with a bright laugh anyway, throwing his arms around Seungmin's neck in a tight hug. "Just so you know, a magical cake pop isn't enough for me to forgive you!"

Seungmin holds him back even tighter with a fond smile, pressing a kiss onto the side of his head and humming. "And what would it take?"

"My prince's heart," Hyunjin answers right away, happily rubbing his cheek against Seungmin's.

Seungmin dies a little inside at how cute he is.

Pulling the boy closer, he burrows his face into the crook of his neck and presses a soft, featherlight kiss onto the smooth skin, murmuring against it quietly. "Trust me. You've already taken it long, long ago."

He feels Hyunjin hold his breath for a moment at that until he exhales shakily, fingers carefully curling into the back of Seungmin's shirt. The tips of his ears are red, and his voice trembles a little as he asks, "Won't you stay the night?"

And there is no way Seungmin could say no to that, even if he wanted to. (He certainly doesn't.) He decides he'll just make it up to Jinyoung tomorrow. "Of course."

Hyunjin buries his face onto Seungmin's chest and cuddles close. "Sleep with me?"

The corner of his lips quirk up just then as he raises an amused brow at his choice of words. "Sleep with you?"

"I mean," Hyunjin leans out a bit with his lower lip jutted out, mindlessly fiddling with the buttons on Seungmin's shirt. "Chan hyung tells me I'm too clingy in my sleep, but I'm always clingy around you anyway and you always hug me back so I figured—" he stops himself as soon as he sees Seungmin's teasing smirk, gasping at him and blushing beet red before slapping at his chest flusteredly. " _Seungminnie!_ "

"Okay okay, I'm sorry," he laughs sheepishly before grinning and adding, "let's save that for another time, then."

"Another time," Hyunjin nods, then he pauses, and then he grabs a pillow to hit Seungmin's face as soon as he realizes what he's agreed to, blushing furiously. " _Kim Seungmin!_ "

"What?" Seungmin's voice turns out muffled from the pillow, so he pulls it down to properly see the blushing boy's face. "It'll happen _someday._ "

" _No,_ " Hyunjin shrieks in embarrassment, but then he sees Seungmin raise a brow at him and he recoils. "Wait no—I mean, not no. You're right, it could—wait I mean, no! It _will,_ happen, um. Someday. Or night...? I don't really know, but yeah we'll—you know, the thing—" he continues to stumble on his own words a bit more until he groans and ends up hiding his reddened face on Seungmin's chest instead, whining as Seungmin bursts into laughter.

"I change my mind, just go home and jump into Jinyoung hyung's arms, you meanie head!"

"Then let go of me."

"No."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seungmin learns just how stubborn Hyunjin can be the very next morning.

Because he doesn't let go of him, even when Seungmin's already dressed up and stepping into his shoes to head to college.

"Hyunjin, you do know I have to go, don't you?"

"No."

"Hyunjin, I'm going to be late."

"No."

"Hyunjin—"

"Nooo."

"Babe," Seungmin sighs, and Hyunjin blushes brightly. "Please?"

But then he just clings even tighter and whimpers. "Seungminnie, that doesn't really help."

Seungmin eventually ends up closing the front door and walking back into the apartment with a happy ball of Hyunjin in his arms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A whole week goes by with Seungmin coming over their apartment after classes everyday.

Luckily, it's only the two of them with Chris most of the time, and there's only one instance where Jisung comes over to visit Chris and Snowball. (Hyunjin judges him for not visiting _him_ instead, but Jisung calls out on him ignoring everyone else when Seungmin's around too, so it shuts him right up.)

Hyunjin seems to have made this pact with himself to work extra hard to come up with more unique magic tricks ever since Seungmin's revelation, so even when he tells the boy he doesn't have to trouble himself with all that and that he needs to rest, he's still as stubborn as always. Though Seungmin finds it cute.

Except that one slightly horrifying instance when Hyunjin went over the top and pulled a hat out of his bunny. ( _"I swear, Snowball is fine! It was just a trick of the eye!"_ he had exclaimed, when Seungmin just stared at the innocent creature and said nothing for five minutes.)

As for his situation on campus, well—that's where the overwhelming part comes in.

Whenever he shares a class with any of Hyunjin's friends, they automatically just seat themselves near him and casually talk to him every now and then, as if showing him and everybody else that he's a part of their friend group now.

It caught him by surprise that one time Minho and Felix just up and declared that they'd be grouping with Seungmin on a project as soon as their professor asked them for names, because he had already planned to do it on his own like he always did for everything else—but surprisingly, he didn't mind.

They also seem to make sure they at least give him a highfive whenever they pass by one another in the corridors—sometimes even _talk_ to him a little, and it somewhat flusters him more often than not (even though they don't see it).

Him being a part of their friend group becomes the talk of the town—or campus, in this case—in a blink of an eye. The number of students glaring daggers at him whenever they see him naturally increase twofold, but they're mostly just cowards who're still terrified of him anyway, so they're smart enough not to pick fights. (But fights aren't anything new to him either.)

The most overwhelming part, however... is the lunch table.

"Here, try this."

Seungmin snaps out of his thoughts when he sees a forkful of sausage being nudged towards his face, blinking and trailing his gaze up the outstretched arm until he sees Woojin's face from across his seat, his brows raised. "You don't want it? It's really good, though!"

He doesn't think he's ever felt more awkward in his life than this very moment, when five other pairs of eyes simultaneously stare at him the moment he lifts a hand to pull the sausage off the fork.

Oh. Right. The feeding thing.

He drops his hand back down to his lap and quickly bites the sausage off instead, mumbling a quiet _'thank you'_ in between his chewing, and as he sees all six of them grinning happily at that, he thinks, this is nice too.

"I think we should like, tell Hyunjin to stop hogging Seungmin all to himself during lunch everyday," Jisung suddenly proposes halfway through their lunches, raising a hand. "All in favor?"

The rest of them raise their hands all too quickly.

"Alright then! So here's an idea—they can have Tuesdays and Thursdays, and all eight of us should be together for the rest of the days!"

"Jisung, you're basically just proposing the same thing we did for you and Chan hyung."

"Shut up, you're just jealous you can't do the same with Jeongin."

Seungmin quietly eats his lunch and watches all of them bicker on and talk about anything and everything under the sun, and he thinks, as he sees the way Chris smiles warmly at him from across the table, maybe he doesn't really mind the overwhelming feeling anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday comes and Hyunjin walks into class with a spring in his steps, happy to finally be able to bounce around freely again without worrying about his sprain anymore.

He stops, though, when he spots a stranger already settled in Seungmin's usual seat, tilting his head as he takes note of the boy's handsome side profile before smiling and continuing to skip his way there, taking the seat by his side.

"Hey," he catches his attention, immediately flicking his wrist in a swift motion the moment the boy turns his head to face him, a tiny bouquet of flowers quickly shooting up from his hand. "I'm Hyunjin, and you're looking quite gorgeous—"

"Uh," the boy interrupts quietly, carefully taking the small bouquet, nevertheless, but his voice strangely sounds a lot like— "I'm your boyfriend."

Hyunjin blinks and does a double take, and then he short-circuits.

It was _Seungmin._

"Your—" he chokes out, standing up from his chair in shock and stumbling back with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. "Your _hair!_ "

"Oh," Seungmin blinks, suddenly conscious of his hair as he reaches up to brush his fringe back with his fingers. "Does it... look bad?"

" _Your hair,_ " Hyunjin just screeches again like some kind of dumb pterodactyl, covering his mouth with a hand when he can't seem to make it close. He vaguely registers the sound of Minho and Felix's boisterous laughing from somewhere in the room, but he barely notices it, because—

Because Seungmin's hair is red.

Seungmin's hair is _red,_ and he's wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and he looks _outrageously attractive,_ and Hyunjin barely remembers when and how he ended up falling on his butt on the floor.

"Hey—" Seungmin's up on his feet and crouching down in front of Hyunjin in no time, a small, concerned frown on his face as he holds his hand out to him. "Your ankle just healed. Be careful."

"I'm being spoken to by a _prince,_ " Hyunjin cries out, grabbing the foot of the nearest chair and shaking it the way he would with Chan's shoulders whenever he feels the need to scream. "I'm going to faint, _help me—_ "

"Oh, stop being such a drama queen," Minho walks his way over with a laugh, taking the seat in front of Seungmin's as Felix follows and sits beside him. "If you can't handle how hot he is then you can always hand him over to me."

It gets Hyunjin back on his feet in the speed of light, missing the way Seungmin owlishly blinks up at him from his still crouching position as he focuses on shooting Minho a demon-like glare instead.

"Hey hey hey," Felix speaks up with an easy laugh, snapping his fingers in front of Hyunjin to snap him out of it. "Remember, he volunteered for the two-forty with me."

Hyunjin huffs out and rolls his eyes with a pout, narrowing his eyes at Minho, who only laughs at him harder. "You're seriously dead meat once Jeongin starts attending college. I don't even know what he ever saw in you—"

A very loud ringtone cuts him off and gives him a mini heart attack, and Felix just blinks and fishes out his phone, snorting when he sees it lighting up with Jeongin's caller ID before swiping on his screen to answer it, putting it on loudspeaker with a snicker. "Hey, Jeongin! What's up?"

_"I sensed mutiny."_

Felix whistles. "Well you sensed right, you see Minho hyung here was—"

Minho screams like a banshee as he dives in to snatch the phone away, fiddling with it for a while before bringing it up to his ear with a sweet smile and an equally sweet voice, saying, "Baby, hey! Oh, don't listen to that dunce, there's really nothing going on. Oh that? Hyunjin was just spazzing about Seungmin. How's school?"

"I don't really understand," Seungmin speaks up this time as he stands as well, and _oh,_ he's wearing boots and he's a few more centimeters taller than Hyunjin now, and it suits him so _well_ and Hyunjin forgets how to breathe again. "But are you okay? You fell pretty hard."

Seungmin's gingerly brushing Hyunjin's fringe aside, worry evident on his face, and Seungmin's hair is red and he's wearing black-rimmed glasses and boots, and Hyunjin ends up sobbing. "God, you're right—I fell pretty hard for you _,_ didn't I?"

Seungmin blinks at him for a few times and soon shakes his head with a fond chuckle, and he's so _charming_ and Hyunjin just can't help it when he tackles Seungmin in a tight hug.

He belatedly realizes how dozens of pairs of eyes have been staring at them in shock, and he almost recoils in panic—they never did discuss whether or not they were going to keep their relationship a secret on campus—but Seungmin just holds him back even tighter and kisses his forehead.

There's blood rushing to his cheeks at all the attention, but he ends up giggling and smiling brightly at Seungmin's sweet gesture anyway, ignoring the way Felix whistles lowly again and snaps photos of them (using Minho's phone) from the side.

(Seungmin thinks Hyunjin's smile is the prettiest.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hyunjin pouts throughout the whole lunch period.

No one's ever told him about their new agreement, and really, he would have been cool with it, but they don't even let him sit beside or across Seungmin at all and he's starting to wonder if his friends really are as wonderful as Seungmin had thought.

But Seungmin doesn't seem to mind, and if it weren't for the fact that he looks genuinely happier being around all of them, Hyunjin would have sulked even harder.

There's no agreement that changes their routine where Seungmin walks him home, though, so as soon as their last period is finished, he prances out of the classroom excitedly, skipping his way towards his locker and opening it as he pulls out some of his textbooks from his bag.

A bunch of hate letters is the first thing he sees, scattered messily inside with some of them falling down onto the ground.

He's not surprised. He expected no less.

With a shrug, he just shoves them aside to make some space for his books, but then he catches sight of something strangely familiar peeking from beneath the pile, and he freezes.

 _Blackmail_.

Hyunjin stares down at it with fear in his eyes, wishing he was just seeing things and that it would disappear any moment now—but it doesn't.

"Hyunjin?"

He probably slams his locker closed a little too harshly, seeing the slightly confused look on Seungmin's face the moment he spins on his heel to turn around.

It's nothing. _This is nothing,_ he wills himself to believe, taking a deep breath and shaking his head, missing the way Seungmin heads his way over before jumping in surprise when the boy's suddenly right in front of him.

The small frown on Seungmin's face just deepens as he lifts a hand to softly caress his cheek. "Hey, it's okay," he murmurs softly, briefly glancing down at the letters sprawled onto the ground before gazing back up at him. "They're just letters."

Hyunjin blinks for a while and nods, taking another deep breath as he relaxes a bit under Seungmin's touch before willing himself to smile a little and shoving his textbooks back inside his bag instead. _They're just letters._

"Well," he forces out a laugh, zipping his bag closed before carefully linking his fingers with Seungmin's, holding his hand with a hopefully convincing grin. _Everything's okay._ "Guess I won't be using my locker for a while."

Seungmin's gaze softens and he looks apologetic for a moment, until his eyebrows shoot up as he says, "We can share mine."

As he shoves a hand into his pocket, seemingly trying to fish out something, he doesn't see the way Hyunjin stills, terrified, as he realizes the possibility of Seungmin seeing the exact same _'letter'_ in his own locker too.

 _No,_ he exhales quietly. He won't let that happen. Not if he can help it.

"Here," Seungmin pulls him out of his trance, dangling a key from its keyring with a small smile. "I have a spare."

The sight of the keyring at least makes him smile back genuinely then—it was a tiny version of Jinyoung's official lightstick—and he takes it with a small chuckle, leaning in to plant a soft smooch onto Seungmin's cheek. _Everything's fine. Everything's cool._ "Thank you, Seungminnie."

Seungmin simply gives his hand a gentle squeeze, bringing it up to his lips to press a soft kiss onto his knuckles.

Everyone stares at them as they start walking down the corridors hand in hand, and they both just ignore all the murmurs, whispers and some loud naysays like they always do as they make their way through the crowd, but almost as soon as Hyunjin hears an annoyed girl on his left saying _'he can do so much better than you,'_  something trips him.

Seungmin immediately catches his fall and holds him close, and before Hyunjin or anyone else even registers it, his foot is already aiming for the girl's ankle in a scooping motion, pushing her foot out and off the ground and making her ungraciously fall down on the floor—and Seungmin looks _furious._

"Watch where you're sticking that out," he glowers down at her, harshly kicking at her foot in one quick swing as she shrieks and cowers in fear. "You could lose it."

Students around them gasp in shock as they look down at the girl—save for one guy, who's now glaring at Seungmin and angrily striding towards him, his fist all ready to throw a punch. "Dude, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Hyunjin's eye twitches, and something inside him snaps.

_People are so fucking meddlesome._

He's going to be happy with Seungmin, and he is _not_ going to let anyone get in the way of that.

He'll make sure they hear that loud and clear.

In a split-second, he's already out of Seungmin's embrace, eyes wide in fury as he walks off to grab at the guy's collar, lifting him up before promptly throwing him onto the ground.

"Fuck _off,_ " he snarls, and he responds almost too naturally when he suddenly hears Felix's voice from behind him saying _'here you go Jinnie,'_ easily recognizing the cold and heavy metal being placed in his hand. He doesn't think twice and immediately swings it at the guy's chest with full force, making him grunt in pain and back away with a hand on his chest.

Everyone starts stepping back in fear from him and Seungmin then, and that's just how he likes it.

Right, what was he so worried about? It was just one single threat. One that could barely be recognized if it wasn't something a person really knew about. Hyunjin can _handle_ it.

He hopes whoever left it had been watching him. Their measly little threat is nothing compared to what he can do to them. He has nothing to be terrified of. This is _nothing_.

With a small huff, he turns around and hands Felix back the nunchucks with a quiet _'thanks,'_ giving the boy's raised hand a little slap for a highfive. Felix always did know the right time to show up.

Felix grins as he shakes his head, shoving the chainsticks back into his pocket and patting on Hyunjin's back to gently push him towards Seungmin.

As his gaze falls back onto the redhead, his anger quickly dissipates, seeing the way Seungmin looks at him with a proud smirk. Hyunjin immediately flashes back a cheeky grin, skipping his way back to the other boy before giggling as Seungmin wraps a protective arm around his waist.

He happily latches onto him in a side-hug, resting his head onto Seungmin's shoulder as they resume their walk out of the building, proudly showing everyone that _yes,_ Kim Seungmin is indeed his, and they should think twice before they mess with possibly the most dangerous couple on campus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**_from: unknown number (21:09)_ **

_[image file attached]_

_[image file attached]_

_[image file attached]_

_[image file attached]_

 

**_to: unknown number (21:32)_ **

_what the fuck do you want_

 

**_from: unknown number (21:33)_ **

_Not much._

_Just to watch your world fall apart while Kim Seungmin finds out what you truly are._

 

 

Hyunjin throws his phone across his room and screams, curling up on his bed and running his hands through his hair in distress.

It wasn't just one single threat. It wasn't even _blackmail_.

Hyunjin was wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> isn't it just, Predictable™ LMFAO i live for cliché i'm sorry  
> it feels like it's rushed and messy even though i took so long writing this _s obs_ i'll probably read it again later to check for any mistakes,,  
> do share with me your thoughts down in the comments!! <3  
> (you can also send me an ask on [tumblr](https://seungjin-chan.tumblr.com/ask)!)  
> —  
> also, hi hello to those who recognized me from hyunjin's reply on [twitter](https://twitter.com/Stray_Kids/status/1109820701991563264?s=09)—you guys are very much adorable hahshahhsdg <3  
> but aYE vive la seungjin nation!! because i have a feeling hyunjin acknowledges and supports the fact that we ship seungjin LMFAO  
> i keep imagining him spotting my twitter icon with seungjin's selca, seeing the "승진 | 현민" as my name and possibly the 'seungjin' in seungjin_chan and thinking: _oH, OH I GOTTA ANSWER THIS_ and it's so hilarious omf


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pretty much just a filler chapter, 4.4k words, but fortunately there won't be a cliffhanger, banzaaai

"Ten twenty-four," Hyunjin huffed out a puff of air as he caught his breath, grinning as he and Felix raised their hands for a triumphant highfive.

 _"Fantastic! We kinda need back up—ow! You son of a... you're gonna pay for that!"_ Jisung hollered through their earpieces, causing the both of them to roll their eyes as they bent down to collect what they needed.

"Losers. Ten-twenty," Felix demanded as he headed over to his bike, tossing Hyunjin his helmet while he wore his own. The latter easily caught it and slipped it over his head, laughing when Minho growled out a _'shut up, Hongdae'_ in between grunts.

 _"Ten twenty-four,"_ Changbin announced calmly from another line, resulting in a bunch of voices overlapping one another as they yelled at him for being a show off, handling things on his own and whatnot.

"Chan hyung, ten one o' one?" Hyunjin called out as soon as he settled down on the seat behind Felix, fixing his earpiece before wrapping his arms around the boy's middle as they drove their way out.

 _"Ten-ten. Or, secure. I don't know which one you're asking,"_ Chan answered distractedly, and Woojin just sighed out an exasperated _'the second one, you idiot,'_ causing Chan to threaten to throw him into the river as soon as they were finished with theirs.

Hyunjin shared a laugh with Felix and shook his head in amusement, resting his chin over the boy's shoulder with a grin as he enjoyed the night breeze. "Ten-four. I finished first, so dinner's on you again!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes, Seungmin wonders what goes on in Hyunjin's mind.

For the past week and a half, there's been at least four times he caught Hyunjin spacing out in the middle of his lunch, five times he had to remind the boy he'd simply been holding his cake pop for the whole duration of their class instead of eating it, and three times he had to stop Hyunjin from walking straight into a lamppost.

Today, however, is the first time Hyunjin messed up a magic trick.

It's when he suddenly slumps down in his seat and lets his head fall onto the desk with a loud thump in the middle of writing their paper (Seungmin only learned today that being partners for anything and everything comes automatically when you're boyfriends), sighing at how boring their work is before perking up and proposing to show Seungmin the magic trick of the day, just for a little break.

Strangely enough, he had to recall what trick he planned to show first for about a minute or two, which also never happened before.

"... Okay," Hyunjin stares down at the pen he accidentally broke into two resting in his palms, pressing his lips together sheepishly before picking up one of the two halves. "I was supposed to turn this tiny, but—I guess this is close enough?"

They get a loud _'shh!'_ from the librarian and Hyunjin jolts a bit in surprise, and Seungmin gets really worried, this time.

He gently tilts Hyunjin's head up with two fingers placed under the boy's chin, watching the way he slowly juts his bottom lip out in a little pout as he visibly shrinks under Seungmin's gaze. "My tricks are getting boring."

"Hyunjin, no," he shakes his head, cupping the boy's cheek instead and caressing it gingerly with his thumb as Hyunjin leans into his touch almost immediately. "Never. But, I am worried. You seem out of it lately."

Hyunjin seems to turn even smaller at that, cowering a little in his chair.

"It's just that..." he sighs, slumping down his shoulders. "I feel like so many things have been happening, you know, ever since we—" he abruptly pauses and stammers flusteredly, to Seungmin's amusement, hands vaguely gesturing to the both of them as his cheeks warm up in Seungmin's palm. "People just won't stop talking. _Meddling._ I know it never bothered me before but it gets too much sometimes, and we've both been getting suspension warnings even when we don't even physically hurt anyone anymore? We only fought back that _one time_ and even then those two didn't even need to be sent to the hospital."

Seungmin fails to hold back a snicker at that last bit, catching Hyunjin's attention and earning a frown and an even bigger pout, along with crossed arms. He coughs and murmurs, "Being sent to the hospital or not isn't supposed to be the basis there, but proceed."

"Your locker is bursting with hate letters now too because of me and we eventually ended up not getting to use either of our lockers at all, and if only I didn't agree with sharing it with you then maybe you could have still been using yours instead of carrying these heavy ass textbooks all the time—"

"Hey, hey. Baby, listen," he croons, smiling when the tips of Hyunjin's ears turn red at the pet name as he clamps his mouth shut. "None of that is your fault. And those hate letters aren't only for you; I get them too."

Hyunjin only ends up pouting again, and before he even gets the chance to argue, Seungmin cuts him off with a soft peck, making him squeak in surprise and cover his mouth with his hands, blushing madly as he looks around the library and seeing the students staring at them while the librarian just rubs at his temple and points to the door in a silent way of telling them to get out. Seungmin stands up and packs up his laptop and all their things while Hyunjin's busy covering his face in embarrassment, soon carrying both of their bags before holding the boy's hand and carefully tugging him along with him to head out.

"People will get tired eventually," he continues when they're outside, "and if they don't—well, they're certainly going to regret it, aren't they?"

Hyunjin blinks at him owlishly, stumbling a little as he follows after Seungmin before letting out a whine. " _No,_ you are not doing that, Seungminnie. I know it doesn't matter to you but I don't want you to get expelled, you can't just leave me here! With all these—these..." he knits his brows and struggles to think of a term, and just as they happen to pass by a group of guys shooting ugly scowls at them, he finds the perfect word and glowers. " _Lowlives._ "

It's safe to say they both get another suspension warning together.

(But they do get a good laugh out of it after watching one of the guys start crying like a baby.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Seungminnie," Hyunjin squeezes his hand gently on their way home later that day, smiling softly to himself as he looks down at the ground. "You've been smiling a lot more these days. And you've started talking more too. It makes me really happy."

Seungmin's eyes soften.

They were things he had consciously been doing. Simply put, he still couldn't do them as naturally as he would like to—he still _had_ to try. He knows Hyunjin would definitely prefer if he didn't, but seeing as he still hadn't noticed how Seungmin was actually putting an effort into somehow changing, bit by bit, then that means he's doing a decent job, at the very least.

He'd been quiet and detached from people for most of his life, so he just knows that if he doesn't try, it won't fix itself on its own like it did with Jinyoung. Hyunjin doesn't deserve that kind of silence—not when it makes him so happy to learn more about Seungmin. He just needs to keep trying until it becomes natural and comfortable enough not to have to put in any more effort, and everything will be more than okay.

And he doesn't mind at all, even if it's a bit exhausting on his part. He'd do just about anything to see that pretty smile on Hyunjin's face all the time.

Nevertheless, he's at least proud to say that smiling comes a whole lot easier with Hyunjin—with his bright, happy little ray of sunshine around. And maybe it's not that way yet with all of Hyunjin's friends ( _"They're your friends too!"_ he hears the boy yell at him for the nth time in his head), but it's a start; they really do make him happy too, after all.

Even Jeongin, who somehow acquired his number and started off with talking to him through messages ( _'I sensed straying. Hello hyung! This is Jeongin. Please feel free to whack my boyfriend over the head if he ever stares at you for more than three seconds'_ had been his very first message), but is now more comfortable with calling him instead—even if it's just to check up on Minho, more often than not. It's really quite entertaining, and it feels nice to have them so comfortable around him to that extent.

"Seung—what are you doing!" Hyunjin suddenly squeaks and tugs on his arm, making him stumble a little as he's hastily dragged aside, finally bringing him back to Earth.

Seungmin blinks rapidly for a few times and comes face to face with a mildly surprised Hyunjin, with his brows raised and his mouth slightly agape, and that's when he notices a lamppost near them and realizes he nearly walked straight into it.

And he really doesn't have to try at all, when he bursts out laughing at that.

Hyunjin's expression turns even more shocked at his reaction, but there's also that delighted and somewhat confused look on his face, and soon enough there's a smile threatening to form on his lips and he ends up giggling brightly at him anyway, pressing a fond little kiss to his cheek. "I guess you aren't any better than I am. Penny for your thoughts?"

Seungmin grins, taking ahold of the boy's hand again to resume their walk, much further away from the lampposts this time. "Just you. And all your friends."

Hyunjin makes this cute, accusing little noise in the back of his throat, his tone raising towards the end as he narrows his eyes at him.

"I mean," he coughs a little sheepishly, "our friends, sorry. It's... It's surprisingly nice, having a group of friends. I know it probably doesn't show, but I really mean it when I say that you all make me happy."

Hyunjin's silent for a while at that, before he softly says, "No, it shows, actually. I know you're not used to expressing yourself, but we can all see it, Seungminnie."

And then, for once, he doesn't realize how he doesn't even give it much thought before he's playfully blurting out, "Well, Jeongin doesn't really see me, you know—"

"Shush. That boy is psychic and can sense everything from a hundred-mile radius. Don't ruin the moment."

"I'm pretty sure he only senses things when it comes to Minho hyung."

"Don't ruin the moment!!!"

A little while later, Hyunjin tugs on his hand to stop him in his tracks, a confused look on his face as he points back towards the street they just passed. "Aren't we going there? I thought we were going to have dinner together."

"We are," Seungmin nods, letting go of the boy's hand and smiling fondly at the way it automatically chases after his before wrapping an arm around his waist instead, pulling Hyunjin close to his side and earning a happy smile from the boy. "But not there, this time."

Hyunjin tilts his head as he latches onto him and sidehugs him tight, letting Seungmin continue leading the way. "I'm pretty sure the last time I checked, there weren't any other non-fastfood restaurants after that street, though... Wait, are we finally going to have fastfood?" he asks with a hopeful glint in his eyes, until Seungmin shakes his head.

"No," he chuckles at the sad whimper that quickly follows, "we barely got to finish our work at the library. You're sleeping over at my place."

There's a loud gasp and a pause, and soon enough, Hyunjin is already squealing and bouncing excitedly as he all but drags Seungmin all the way to the apartment.

(Truthfully speaking, Seungmin would have still made Hyunjin sleep over even if they got to finish their paper. After all, he's already asked permission from Chris last night.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon arriving, Hyunjin pretty much belly flops on the living room couch, happily flailing his arms and legs around as if he were making snow angels, but faceplanted. "Ah, how I've missed this place."

Seungmin follows after and looms over him from behind the couch, leaning down just in time when the boy flips himself to lie on his back before swiftly catching his lips in a soft, brief kiss. "You were here two weeks ago, princess."

"I—" Hyunjin palms his reddening cheeks and whines in embarrassment, grabbing one of the pillows to cover his face. "You keep surprise-kissing me!"

With a small chuckle and a shake of his head, he proceeds to head to his bedroom and towards his closet to gather up a fresh set of clothes for the boy, the corner of his lips quirking up a bit at the mere thought of Hyunjin in his clothes, in his bed, curled up next to him.

Sleeping in the same bed as Hyunjin two weeks ago was probably the best sleep he's ever had—even though he was pretty sure he had been sleeping alone just fine all this time, so yesterday, when Jinyoung suggested he could invite the boy over while he's gone for two nights, Seungmin didn't really think twice and just messaged Chris right away. (The elder amusingly replied with _'make sure to use lube!!'_ so he thinks it must have been a yes.)

And well, if Seungmin purposely didn't tell Hyunjin about it beforehand just so he could get him to wear his clothes, Hyunjin didn't need to know.

Turning back around to call out to him, he abruptly stops and blinks, lips curving up into a fond grin when he spots the boy already shyly peeking over at him from the doorframe. He beckons him over and watches him take careful little steps inside as he curiously glances around the room in wonder, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

Then he suddenly stops, big eyes staring towards the corner of the room, and when Seungmin follows his gaze, he sees his study table.

Ah.

It's where Seungmin had been keeping everything he ever received from Hyunjin. There's a small vase right beside his pen holder with the tiny bouquet of flowers he got when Hyunjin first saw his red hair, and across it was the white bunny plushie he never did return (Hyunjin doesn't even need practice, he thinks), sitting beside a picture frame with a couple of paper cranes inside, along with a dried rose, all stuck onto a piece of paper.

"You kept them," Hyunjin whispers, staring back into his eyes with this unreadable expression on his face, and for some reason, it worries Seungmin.

"You look shocked," he answers, taking a step closer and lightly cocking his head aside. He doesn't miss the way Hyunjin's gaze falters for a split-second. "You're not still thinking I only asked you out because I felt sorry for you, are you?"

Hyunjin squirms a bit under his gaze, and that's enough to answer his question. He sighs, reaching up to stroke the boy's cheek with the back of his hand before planting a soft kiss onto the other cheek. "Never doubt me, please. I've never been more sure of my feelings and my decisions than I am now."

"But... what if you find something you don't like about me and then you won't like me anymore, and, and you'll _leave_ —"

"I won't leave you," he interrupts, gazing at him with determination in his eyes. "I'll never leave you. I'll stay for as long as you'll have me. Let me prove it to you, little sunshine."

A faint blush dusts Hyunjin's cheeks as he shyly bites down on his bottom lip, eventually nodding once before leaning in to smush his cheek against Seungmin's affectionately, hands habitually reaching up to curl themselves into the material of his shirt. "Seungminnie... I like you."

"I know," Seungmin chuckles fondly and gingerly caresses the back of the boy's head. "But not as much as I like you, baby boy."

And then, Hyunjin gasps loudly, takes a step back, and just _shrieks_ his way out of the bedroom with the brightest blush on his face. "You can't _do this to me!_ "

Seungmin runs after him with a delighted laugh, the clothes still nestled in his arms as he yells, "Where are you going? Don't make me force you into the shower and wash you myself!"

" _Kim Seungmin!_ " Hyunjin shrieks even louder and hides under the dining table in embarrassment, and Seungmin has never felt happier in his life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Isn't Jinyoung hyung supposed to be home by now?"

Seungmin pauses drying his hair with a towel to look up from his seat on the couch, seeing Hyunjin fresh from the shower as well, heading over to him and standing at his side with a tilt of his head, and—oh.

"... Yeah," he says distractedly, unable to bring himself to stop shamelessly staring the boy up and down. It doesn't go back up.

The red, oversized sweater makes Hyunjin look so _soft;_ it's slipping off of his left shoulder just enough to expose his collarbone, and the long sleeves make him have these adorable sweater paws. He's helped himself into the white, fluffy pair of slippers as well, and Seungmin would have cooed at how cute he is, except—

Hyunjin doesn't have any pants on. He's only wearing boxers beneath the sweater, and it's giving Seungmin a very, _very_ great view of the boy's long, beautiful legs, his smooth, milky thighs—

"Seungminnie...?"

He snaps out of it and looks up at Hyunjin, seeing the boy flushing under his gaze, shifting his weight onto one foot as he rubs at his arm shyly. He doesn't do anything to cover his thighs, though, and Seungmin finds himself slowly staring back down at them again. "He has fansigning events. Will be back tomorrow. Also you forgot to wear the sweatpants I gave you."

Hyunjin blinks, dumbfounded, before slapping a hand over his mouth in realization and blushing up to his ears. "Oh my God, I'm so stupid, I—"

Seungmin grabs his wrist before he gets the chance to walk away, pulling him back to stand in front of him before taking both of his hands and lacing their fingers together as he peers up at him with a soft smile. "I like it."

Hyunjin blushes even darker and awkwardly rocks back on his heels, mumbling quietly through a small pout. "I don't usually wear pants at home so I guess I didn't realize it..."

"But you wore them everytime I came over at your place."

"I—of course I did! I knew you were coming over, I couldn't just dress comfortably like there were no guests in the house, you can't just see me in my underwear!"

"Are you saying I'm not supposed—" Seungmin gets cut off with a whine and a palm over his mouth, so he ends up chuckling in amusement, standing up to slither his arms around the boy's waist and pulling him close. Hyunjin almost automatically wraps his arms back around Seungmin's neck, but he pauses and opts to dry his hair for him instead, a tiny, happy little smile on his lips as he does so.

"Seungminnie, it feels like we're married."

There's a swarm of butterflies fluttering violently in his stomach at those words, and he buries his face into the crook of the boy's neck, humming and smiling widely. "It really does, doesn't it?"

They share that moment in comfortable silence for a few minutes, and it takes him quite a while before he finally finds it in him to decide to start preparing their dinner, picking the boy up and carrying him to the kitchen with him before settling him down atop the counter. "I'll be the chef today, princess."

Hyunjin's eyes sparkle in excitement.

He doesn't expect the boy to stay put, really, so merely three minutes into preparing the ingredients, Hyunjin's already hopping down the floor and waddling over to ask if there's anything he can help with.

Truthfully speaking, preparing takes longer than it's supposed to with Hyunjin's help, but Seungmin just lets himself quietly enjoy watching the boy chop a single onion for five minutes while sniffling and crying like the cute little crybaby he is.

The bright smile on his face when Seungmin tells him _'good job'_ is more than worth it.

"So," Hyunjin starts, as Seungmin begins cooking the meat, "what are you cooking anyway?"

"Chaliapin steak."

"... Shalala steak?"

"Chaliapin steak."

"Shalala steak. Got it."

Seungmin squishes Hyunjin's cheeks together and presses a fond peck onto his plump, protruded lips.

Their dinner is finished in about half an hour along with two bowls of salad, and across him, Hyunjin digs in immediately, letting out little squeals in delight as he stuffs spoonfuls of food into his mouth while bouncing happily in his seat. He says something indecipherable in the midst of his chewing, but there's a cheerful tone to it, so Seungmin just smiles adoringly.

"I'm glad you like it."

His cheeks don't get any less full as he continues to eat, and he looks just like a little bunny. Seungmin briefly considers getting him a bunny onesie someday—maybe even Chris would find it cute. (Much cuter than their all too colourful rainbow unicorn onesies, he thinks.)

"What do you call this salad?" Hyunjin curiously asks him after a while, when he's finally swallowed down everything in his mouth and drank some water. "I don't think you've ever ordered this kind of salad for me before. This is surprisingly really good!" he exclaims, staring at the salad bowl with big eyes.

"They don't have it in the restaurants we go to. It's Parisian salad."

"Paris salad?"

Seungmin laughs and nods. "Paris salad."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hyunjin offers to wipe the dishes dry after they're done eating, while Seungmin does the washing part. Imaginary-Jinyoung's already teasing him in his head about how domestic they're acting around each other (even though they do the same thing together).

But he's gotten too used to the way he and Jinyoung work together in a faster pace that before Hyunjin even gets to properly hold the plate, he accidentally lets go of it.

It's almost inhumanly fast, though, how Hyunjin's hand whips around to catch it. All Seungmin sees is a blurred motion until the view clears up to show him that the boy had easily caught it, without so much as a hint of a look of shock or surprise on his face.

And that duality still very much gets to him.

"Damn," he blurts out without thinking, "your hands are bloody quick."

It was a compliment. But something else flashes before Hyunjin's eyes—something akin to fear; a fear so _immense_ that he couldn't possibly miss it, even if it's there for a mere milisecond, before he's forcing out a laugh and saying, "I guess I've been practicing magic tricks a lot."

Unsure, Seungmin opts not to say anything as they continue on with their chore quietly, until he realizes later on that it's been minutes since he finished washing everything and Hyunjin's still wiping the last, already dry bowl, face blank and eyes staring at practically nothing as he spaces out for the nth time this week.

Seungmin goes behind him and wraps his arms around his slim waist, lips pressed onto the boy's nape as he sighs silently through his nose. Hyunjin freezes for a second before he lets out a quiet _'oh'_ and finally places the bowl into the rack embarrassedly, hands carefully placing over Seungmin's as he shyly lowers his head.

"You don't have to tell me right now," he murmurs, pulling the boy closer to his chest, "but whatever's bothering you, you know you can always tell me. It's not just about the people talking or the letters, isn't it?"

Hyunjin shakes his head slowly and plays with Seungmin's fingers. "It's... hard to explain," he whispers, and he looks so much like he has more to say, but he swallows it down and doesn't say anything more.

"It's okay," Seungmin gently turns the boy around to face him, seeing his big, beady eyes staring back into his with the faintest hint of sadness. "As long as you're going to be alright."

He kisses Hyunjin softly and gently, tightening his grip around his waist and keeping him in place when the boy practically melts into the kiss and loses his stance in an instant, arms reaching up to wrap themselves around Seungmin's neck as he runs his fingers through his slightly dry, dyed hair.

The sound of a small whimper has him immediately hoisting the boy up on the counter, standing in between his bare legs and kissing him just a little harder, until Hyunjin has to break the kiss to catch his breath, his cheeks flushed prettily and his plump lips already swollen. Seungmin presses one soft peck onto his parted lips, down his jaw, until he reaches his neck and plants wet kisses all over the expanse of his skin, tugging the sweater down the boy's shoulder to reveal his collarbone before resting his palms on Hyunjin's soft thighs.

Hyunjin is pliant under his touch, quite endearingly so, his neck craning sidewards to allow him more access and his legs easily hooking around Seungmin's hips, pressing himself closer and _closer_ and—

Seungmin snaps back into his senses and leans his head back, taking in the sight of Hyunjin's dazed eyes and his breathless state, lips still slightly parted and almost _begging_ him to kiss him senseless. "I got carried away, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking straight—"

And when Hyunjin shuts him up with a messy, needy kiss, Seungmin ultimately loses control.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seungmin rests his elbow on his leg and his chin on his palm a little while later, watching his boyfriend sprawled out on his bed and happily rolling around while hugging and sniffing all of his pillows. "Hyunjin, we really should start working on our paper now."

Hyunjin whines and childishly kicks a foot up in the air. "Five more minutes! Making out can be exhausting, okay?"

He then continues on with his endeavor to hug all of the pillows in his arms to nuzzle his face into them, and Seungmin fondly decides not to say what he has to say about the _'making out'_ part anymore, even as he trails his eyes over the bruise-like marks along Hyunjin's neck and thighs with a pleased smile.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy six months to this story (yesterday)!! <3  
> and happy pride month everyone! 🌈  
> thank you so much for the 328 kudos!  
> also, if you didn't notice, i finally got to change the summary to fit this story much better now, hALLELUJAH.  
>  ~~it still kind of sucks but i tried my best~~  
>  anywho this chapter has 4.5k words of Important Information!! ~~i think~~

It's been two weeks since he slept over at Seungmin's, and almost a month since they started dating.

Frankly, Hyunjin is tired.

"How long are you going to keep doing this?" Felix tosses the last few pictures into the fire, taking a seat beside Hyunjin and letting the taller rest his head on his shoulder.

It's the third time he's gone over to Felix's this week. Maybe it's already even been about a dozen times they've done the exact same thing now; starting up a fire in the backyard and sitting beside each other as they watch countless pictures of Hyunjin burn into ashes.

He's a bit surprised at how everyone else seems to buy their story of Felix needing him to come over so they could work on a dance routine together ( _"I'm getting rusty, I seriously need it!"_ Felix had convincingly told them), but he's grateful.

"It's getting worse, Jinnie," Felix adds, wrapping an arm around Hyunjin's shoulders and patting at his arm gently. "I really think you should just tell Seungmin—he doesn't seem like he would mind, to be honest—but if you seriously still have no plans to, then at least tell the others, you know? Tracking this person down with them would be so much faster than with just the two of us. You and I both know we suck at this; we're taking so long."

Hyunjin sighs and presses the heels of his palms against his eyes. "They're going to tell me to just tell Seungmin too. If I don't, they'll tell Seungmin themselves. I don't want that. I just... really want to find this person and shut them up. And then no one else has to know."

"But we haven't found a single lead," the blonde frowns, frustrated. "If we can at least tell Minho hyung—he'd be able to trace them in a heartbeat and find a way to threaten them in no time. He and I can work together again like we did for that psycho last month, and—"

"Ten twelve, will you," Hyunjin mumbles tiredly, causing the other boy to pause for a bit before huffing and crossing his arms.

"Don't _'ten twelve'_ me, we're not on a mission."

 _"For the last time, ten twelve does not mean shut up,"_ he hears past-Changbin's annoyed voice echo in his head and he sighs inwardly, running a hand down his face.

The more pictures he can see of himself from three years ago—even those he can't even recall anymore, which is highly alarming—the more he's reminded of what it felt like to be what he used to be, through all these voices resounding in his head and the dreams he's been having at night. Sometimes, he'd look at the most random thing and a surge of memories would already be flashing before his eyes.

He's starting to lose his temper more quickly too. The urge to just scream at anyone who so much as glance at him wrong is getting stronger by the day, and even if he can still hold himself back now, it terrifies him.

He can see how Seungmin's been getting more and more worried at how, at certain instances, Hyunjin would behave differently without realizing it himself. Being around Felix at least gives him someone to snap him out of it before anyone else notices, but he can't be around to save the day when it's just him and Seungmin together.

At this rate, he just might completely lose himself in front of Seungmin and have the boy leave before the person behind all this even _makes_ him leave.

"Felix, I'm scared," he whispers pathetically, hands gripping tightly on the hem of his shirt.

As he closes his eyes, all he sees is Seungmin's smile, and his whole body just starts shaking in fear. It isn't this whole ordeal that's scaring him—it's the thought of losing the only person he ever really wished to hold hands with for the rest of his life.

_If Seungmin lets go..._

"It's okay, Jinnie. We'll figure this out."

 

 

 

 

 

 

The letters are lessening.

He and Seungmin got rid of everything in their lockers a few days ago (heaven knows just how much Hyunjin was on edge, hoping Seungmin wouldn't find anything in there), and he doesn't know if he feels any better knowing Seungmin's locker isn't going to be as cluttered as it used to anymore or not. On one hand, he still has the spare key with him so he can still hide whatever he can as long as he makes sure Seungmin doesn't see him doing so, and it'll be quicker to find them if it's not _bursting_ with letters.

On the other hand, if he doesn't get there at just the right time, Seungmin can easily find them first.

It's frustrating and he shouldn't think this way, but he would seriously prefer blackmail than whatever this is. Ransom is so much easier than this—but at this point, he's pretty much convinced now that all the person really wants is nothing but his misery.

And today, the pictures aren't only in his and Seungmin's lockers.

Hyunjin feels like crying as he quickly strides his way inside the empty classroom and towards Seungmin's seat, hastily gathering the scattered pictures on the desk into a messy pile and shoving them into his bag.

He's gonna have to come to class even earlier than he already is and come up with an excuse to Chan why he can't walk with the older in the morning on their way to campus now.

And he's so, _so_ tired.

"Hyunjin?"

He spins on his heel in surprise and sees Seungmin by the door with a puzzled look on his face, starting to make his way inside before it morphs into a worried frown.

"Is... everything okay? You look like you're about to cry," he murmurs in a gentle voice, stopping in front of Hyunjin and caressing his cheek gingerly.

Hyunjin almost wants to break down right there and then, just tell him everything and accept whatever happens already, but the thought of Seungmin being disappointed in him firmly holds him back and he's forcing up a smile in no time.

"What? No, I'm great! You're just imagining things, Seungminnie."

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Wanna come over?" Seungmin asks him a few days later, on their way back home. "I'm sure Jinyoung hyung would love to see you too."

He can tell Seungmin has known for a while already that something's off—that's for sure—but he hasn't pushed for any answers. Instead, he just showers Hyunjin with even more affection and does his best to spend a lot of time with him, and he would always make sure Hyunjin feels loved in the quietest ways possible. It's really no surprise, but Hyunjin falls in love even more.

"Sure!" he flashes a happy grin, moving closer to the boy to hug his arm as they walk. "I can definitely stay for dinner."

Seungmin seems to pause, as if he wants to say something to that, before he settles for a smile instead and kisses the top of Hyunjin's head. "Practice with Felix again later?"

He blinks for a moment at that, and suddenly, it clicks.

Seungmin must have been hoping he would stay the night.

Hyunjin looks down at the ground in guilt and nods slowly. Even if he wants to take it back and just tell Seungmin he'd be thrilled to stay the night, he can't afford to waste any more time horsing around instead of using it to track down the culprit before things get worse. "We haven't exactly... made much progress, to be honest."

They've been hacking through the university's system for weeks now, and Felix is right about them being shit at it. Even back then, they were the ones who were more capable of being the frontliners; working behind the scenes had always been just Minho and Jisung's job to do (which reminds him of how they suck at fighting, by the way, and how they always needed backup at the end of the day no matter much they argued that they could handle it).

Ergo, they still haven't a single clue.

"But you already seem tired enough, Hyunjin."

 _God,_ he is. He's so exhausted he could probably collapse anytime now.

"Ah, it's fine, Seungminnie. Being tired is an inevitable part of being a student!"

And just for a brief moment there, he wonders if Seungmin will ever get tired of him, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The front door flies open merely two seconds after they ring the doorbell, nearly slamming into their faces had they been just one step closer, revealing a somewhat frazzled, somewhat delighted-looking Jinyoung behind it.

"Cheri! Great news, I just finished mixing the—" he does a double take at Hyunjin, before he seems to brighten up even more as he grabs at his wrist and tugs him inside. "Your baby boy is here! Hyunjin, you are just in time."

Shocked, he doesn't get to say anything as he stumbles after the eldest, finding himself being led towards a door—a room he's never been to before, with Seungmin trailing behind them yelling and whining at Jinyoung about wanting to listen to something first, which, however, falls on deaf ears.

It takes him a moment to realize he's been dragged inside a recording studio.

_A recording studio._

Hyunjin gasps loudly and slaps a hand over his mouth, taking in the sight before him.

Forget his cheap, deceiving tricks—this is where the _real_ magic happens. Where Jinyoung and this really talented songwriter Cheri spend all their time working their butts off to create the most beautiful songs he's ever had the pleasure to listen to.

Hyunjin feels like fainting. "I could die right now and I'd die without regret."

"Hey, whoa," Seungmin comes up beside him, wrapping an arm around his waist and pressing a kiss to the side of his head. "No dying. And Jinyoung hyung, who _told_ you you could just—"

"So get this," Jinyoung cuts him off and ignores the immediate glare pointed at him, just focusing on Hyunjin instead. "For the first time ever, Cheri has finally agreed to sing with me in a new song!"

The short, abrupt scream he lets out is involuntary, making the other two jolt a little in surprise, and he quickly covers his mouth and apologizes, though his eyes are still blown wide.

Cheri's singing.

 _Seungmin's_ singing.

"Yeah, I think I know how you must be feeling right now," Jinyoung laughs heartily, making his way to his desk and taking a seat in front of the desktop computer, where the screen shows an opened audio file with a group of different tracks. "Here's a special treat for you: you two—Cheri, stop glaring at me, I swear we don't need to redo any recordings—get to be the first to listen to my upcoming new track!"

Hyunjin doesn't stop himself from shrieking this time, hands violently shaking Seungmin's shoulders. "Oh my God! Oh my God!"

"Baby, calm—" Seungmin struggles to speak up properly before holding Hyunjin's hands and stopping him. "Calm down, it's not that big of a deal."

"Yes _it is!_ " he cries out, running his hands through his hair before promptly slamming himself against the wall and hugging it with a sob. "Oh my God, I'm going to be the first to listen to a new song, and _Cheri's_ going to be singing in it!"

The sound of Seungmin choking and coughing alerts him and quickly gets him to turn around in worry, though, but he becomes confused when he sees Jinyoung just laughing at the boy.

"You should call him that more often; look at how flustered he is!"

Blinking, he glances back at Seungmin and sees how red he is from his ears down to his neck, and maybe it could be from his coughing fit, but even Hyunjin can tell he looks embarrassed from the way he glares at Jinyoung and kicks at the eldest's leg.

His heart swells with fondness.

Maybe Seungmin really did blush that day, when he accidentally called him Cheri the first time.

"Alright!" Jinyoung cheers with a clap of his hands, sliding closer to the desk before hovering a finger over the keyboard and glancing back at them with a grin. "Have a seat and let's listen to it, yeah?"

As soon as he and a disgruntled Seungmin settle down beside each other on the small loveseat near the door, the song starts to play, gradually getting louder as Jinyoung turns the volume up enough to fill the whole room with nothing but music.

To his surprise, it has a completely different vibe from every other song Jinyoung's ever released before. Unlike the usual ballads and the cheerful, refreshing songs he and Cheri would often write and compose, this one feels... heavy. A little dark, and somewhat sorrowful, even, from the first few seconds of what seems to be an orchestra playing the saddest tune he's heard in a long while.

The orchestra disappears as the intro ends, however, and the first verse starts with a slightly faster beat of the bass drum, the piano, and the occasional strum of an electric guitar, creating a rather daunting aura this time around as Jinyoung sings a melody with a pitch lower than Hyunjin's ever heard in any of his songs before.

It takes three stanzas and a minute before the chorus comes in—before the _voice_ changes, and he promptly stops breathing.

Seungmin's voice had always sounded beautiful. Whether he was just speaking or laughing or humming, Hyunjin always found it so nice to hear, and right now, he can't believe the idea of him actually singing never once crossed his mind.

The chorus has all the higher notes and Seungmin is hitting them so clearly and so _perfectly._ Jinyoung was right about not needing to redo anything. There's a certain roughness to his voice in some parts; it almost sounds like his voice is breaking when it's really not, like if he had been speaking it instead, he would sound really frustrated.

And Hyunjin finds that _so_ inexplicably attractive. ( _And fucking hot,_ his mind very helpfully supplies.)

Then the words start sinking in, and Hyunjin is already staring at Seungmin wide-eyed halfway through the chorus, the latter awkwardly biting at the inside of his cheek as he rubs at his nape and casts his gaze down.

 

_If it's us against the world, we'll fight it_

_and win as long as we're united_

_Take my hand and don't you let it go now_

_We'll find our way out_

_When we are faced with danger_

_and eyes that stare at us in anger_

_Take my hand and don't you let it go now_

_We'll find our way out_

 

He feels like he knows why Seungmin agreed to sing. If this song means what he thinks it means—

"By the way, Hyunjin," Jinyoung spins his chair around to face them, gradually turning down the volume as he proudly says, "Cheri wrote the whole thing."

And his heart skips a beat. Maybe two.

The song was about them. That's why Jinyoung had been so keen on letting him listen to it.

Seungmin wrote it for him. Seungmin _sang_ for him.

And it's just about the most romantic thing he's ever done and if only it didn't feel so early to say just yet, Hyunjin would be telling Seungmin those three words he's been saying in his head all these months right about now.

"Hyung," Seungmin calls quietly, soft eyes locked on Hyunjin's, and that's all it takes before Jinyoung is standing up and making his way out the door, chuckling out an amused _'going, going'_ before leaving them alone.

For the dozenth time that day, Hyunjin feels like crying. But he can't even begin to explain how relieved he is that for the first time in a while, it's of happiness again.

"I—" he chokes out, voice already wobbling as tears start forming in his eyes before he hiccups and just shamelessly sobs like a child, "I can't believe Cheri wrote a song for me!"

Seungmin lets out a surprised noise, blinking rapidly and looking comically confused and embarrassed at the same time that it makes him giggle through his tears as he messily dabs at his eyes with the sleeves of his sweatshirt.

"Seungminnie, your singing is officially m—my new favourite thing now," he manages in between sniffles, folding his legs up on the couch so he can easily scooch closer to the boy before hugging him tightly and burrowing himself in the space between Seungmin's shoulder and neck. "I absolutely adore the song. It's s—so beautiful. Cheri is so so talented!"

"I—what—" Seungmin sputters, but he's wrapping his arms back around him tighter and pulling him closer anyway and it makes him giggle again as he leans out to smile fondly at the boy's slightly flushed cheeks.

"Seungminnie... thank you."

Gentle fingers reach up to wipe his tears away before cupping around his cheek, coaxing him closer before he feels a trail of featherlight kisses from his forehead, down his nose, until it reaches his lips. "I meant every word, little sunshine."

Hyunjin all but melts into him as Seungmin pulls him into his lap and kisses him again softly—and maybe, just maybe, Felix was right.

Maybe Seungmin really won't see him differently even if he learns about his past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"A song. He wrote me a _song._ Are you listening right now?"

"Uh-huh, cool," Felix hums distractedly, clicking on the mouse to open another student's Instagram page before sighing at the sight of yet another private account and typing in the codes to hack into it. "This one's another fan. I can feel it," he presses a key and sits back in his chair as he waits for the posts to start appearing on the screen, before snorting and throwing his hands up in the air in surrender. "I give up. It's your turn."

"I mean, just because they all have 'fancams' of me and Seungmin together doesn't necessarily mean they don't hate me or something, you know."

By habit, Hyunjin slides his spinny chair towards the desktop to take over as Felix moves aside, before pausing and turning to the blonde with a thoughtful look. _Maybe they don't really have to do this._ "Hey, I... I know this sounds crazy, but—how about we take a break?"

"Don't be silly. We just took one fifteen minutes ago. And we've only been working for over an hour."

"No, I mean," he pauses, really considering the idea in his head this time as he blinks to himself. "Let's... not do this tonight."

Felix raises a brow in suspicion for a moment before eventually raising his other one as well. "Are you saying—"

"I'm still deciding," he quickly interrupts, biting down on his lip. "But yeah. Kind of. I'm going to think it through at home."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hyunjin heaves out the heaviest sigh and knocks his forehead onto Seungmin's locker, fishing out his spare key to unlock it tiredly.

It's been two days and yes, he _has_ been thinking it through, but his indecisiveness combined with his insecurities isn't really very helpful. If anything, it keeps him on edge even more than he used to.

It's not that he doesn't trust Seungmin—truthfully, he feels that he trusts him even more now—but he hates that he's still scared and that fear would always, _always_ be what gets him to think twice until he decides against himself, over and over again. He can't remember how many times he's been on the verge of just spilling everything over the past couple of days, and Seungmin would always have that hopeful look on his face, but it'd disappear as soon as he finds himself blurting out another white lie before he even realizes it.

Hyunjin opens the locker and blankly stares at the amount of pictures scattered inside, about three times more than there were yesterday, before gathering them and shoving them messily into his bag.

"I'm gonna need a bigger bag, aren't I," he mumbles to himself dejectedly, closing the locker and fixing the lock over it again before pocketing his key.

It takes him a moment to notice the figure that's been standing some meters to his left, his head quickly whipping around to find Seungmin—of course, _of course_ it had to be be Seungmin, _dammit_ —staring at him with a confused look.

"Why were you...?" Seungmin blinks a few times, gaze shifting between him and the locker. "What were those things you took out from there?"

Hyunjin short-circuits. "Nothing."

Seungmin looks taken aback, before he softens his gaze and takes careful steps towards him. "Sunshine, I've been standing here long enough to see you put some things in your bag. They didn't look like anything of mine, but they sure didn't look like any of your things either."

 _They were pictures. Of me. Someone's been leaving them in your locker and on your desks before classes._ All he has to do is tell the truth and Seungmin will understand.

"I didn't take anything." _What?_ What was he saying?

" _Hyunjin,_ " Seungmin raises his voice, and really, it's not even that much, but Hyunjin still starts shaking. "If you could just tell me what's going on. _Please._ I've already waited long enough."

Was Seungmin getting tired of waiting? Tired... of him?

No. He shouldn't think that way. Seungmin clearly cares about him more than he could ever know.

But he's not ready. He hasn't thought this out thoroughly enough to properly confess everything and he needs more time. "There's nothing going on."

Seungmin isn't convinced. "No, what have you been keeping from me? What do you keep taking from my desk before classes?" _Oh no. Seungmin found out about that too._ "Just what—"

"Seungmin, please," he hugs his bag tightly to his chest, taking a step back and cowering. He can't just go ahead and tell everything now. Not like this. Not when he can barely collect his muddled thoughts over his growing fear. "It's really nothing—"

"Why won't you _tell me!_ " Seungmin finally yells in frustration and startles Hyunjin, his voice echoing throughout the empty hallway.

Hyunjin grips tighter on his bag as he trembles violently.

Seungmin's never yelled at him before.

"Hyunjin, are you really not going to tell me anything at all?"

The worst possible thing he could have said under this situation is what comes out of his stupid, dumb mouth.

"It's none of your damn business, Seungmin!"

Hyunjin immediately slaps a hand over his mouth in shock, and the look on Seungmin's face makes him want to kill himself.

Seungmin's eyes are wide, _hurt,_ and the visible sadness in them makes his heart ache painfully in regret.

This isn't what he wanted. He wished to see Seungmin express his feelings more, but this isn't what he wanted.

"N—no, Seungmin, I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"Okay," Seungmin says quietly as he steps back, and Hyunjin freezes at what he sees.

The expression disappears from Seungmin's face and turns back to being blank. _Cold._

As if they're back to square one.

"Okay," Seungmin repeats in a whisper, face now void of any emotion, before he's turning around and walking away without another glance.

And as Hyunjin drops there to his knees in tears, helpless, he wonders if this is what it feels like to have his world fall apart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I ruined it," he cries out pitifully as soon as a surprised Felix opens the front door that night, the latter immediately tugging him inside and pulling him in for a tight hug as he sobs uncontrollably. "Felix, I ruined it. I don't—I don't even have to wait for Seungmin to find out anything anymore, I ruined everything myself."

He comes back home late after bawling his eyes out for hours, and when Chan worriedly asks him what's wrong at the sight of his puffy, red eyes, he answers with but a single word.

"Me."

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Let's not do this anymore."

All six heads turned towards the owner of the voice, Minho, looking up at him quizzically as they paused from eating their lunch. Minho stood up from his seat and heaved out a breath before placing both his palms atop the table, looking unusually serious, for once.

"I met a boy," he started, glancing at both sides of the table to see if anyone would react before taking the silence as a cue to continue. "He's the most wonderful thing to ever happen to me. He sees the world in a different light—he makes me happy about things I've never even really cared about before and, and I..." he faltered at the growing surprised looks on their faces, until Woojin gestured for him to continue, so he took another deep breath.

"I want to be a better person for him. I don't want him dating a—" he hesitated, but only for a second. "A _hooligan._ "

Hyunjin stood up and snarled. " _What_ did you just call us?"

"Hyunjin," Minho sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again with a determined look. "We fight and steal for money. _You_ happen to have the fastest pair of hands in here; surely you would know better than anyone else that we're practically criminals for a living."

Changbin grabbed at Hyunjin's wrist before he could storm towards the older male, shaking his head quietly and tugging him back down to sit. Minho shot Changbin a grateful look before standing back up straight and clasping his hands together.

"Of course, I'm not saying this without a plan. But think about it, guys. I know this way of living for us comes as easily as breathing does by now, but do you all _really_ want to do this for the rest of your lives to survive? I can't be the only one who wants a normal life, can I?"

For about a minute or two, only unsure looks were exchanged with one another, until Chan finally decided to speak up. "Okay, Minho. First, tell us about this plan. And later, about the boy."

Minho brightened up immediately before dropping back down to his seat and pulling out a pen and notebook from his bag on the floor, turning it to a blank page before starting to scribble down excitedly as he babbled on about his plans.

Hyunjin was a little taken aback. He never saw Minho so enthusiastic about anything before.

"We're moving to a different city. We're going to use what we have now to survive for a month and a half and by then, all of us shall have gotten at least two part time jobs each so we can save up like _crazy_ for food, rent and college. Most importantly, college. I've listed down some estimations here so we can follow a strict budget, and then—"

"Uh," Jisung raised a hand unsurely. "College...? What about, you know, the rest of high school?"

Minho merely blinked. "Apparently there's this thing called scholarship—"

A chorus of groans, whines and sighs filled up the tacky, old garage they called their hideout, but for the first time, Hyunjin saw the way everyone's eyes started shining with a newfound hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are loved <3  
> i'll reread it later to see if i made any mistakes or missed anything!!  
> i have also jumped onto the bandwagon and made a [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/seungjin_chan) account just in case some of you might prefer to talk to me anonymously but not on tumblr sjdhkg  
> —  
> the lyrics are from an actual song—you can listen to it [here](https://open.spotify.com/track/01WJWHv12F3nWeXGYsmOOs?si=G3lelJhDToqP0I3d1mIIQQ)!  
> p.s. always mind the past tense and present tense scenes! you guys might want to reread the previous chapter too, just in case!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **please read with caution.** there are certain topics in this chapter that may feel uncomfortable to some of you.  
> also, i thought you guys ought to know that i have just turned all the english speaking parts of the whole story into **bold!**  
>  hooray for an update that didn't take a whole month!!1! ~~there's only a few more days left before it becomes one month, but every little bit counts!~~  
>  —  
> here's 5k words of what might feel like a rushed chapter and i'm sorry, i did try my best to make the transition feel less hasty while editing it 93929489 times but sadly the universe is telling me that i am not talented enough for that—

Like a broken record, Hyunjin's words keep echoing in his head incessantly.

_"It's none of your damn business, Seungmin!"_

Seungmin clutches on his chest and breathes out shakily, nearly stumbling over the steps on their front porch before making his way inside and closing the door behind him, leaning his back against it.

He can't remember the last time he felt this way. If he _ever_ felt this way. He and Jinyoung never had a fight like that before, nor did the latter ever really do anything to make him feel... unwanted.

The logical part of his head tells him Hyunjin didn't mean to say that at all, but after all these weeks of the boy hiding things from him and covering them up with such white lies, Seungmin ultimately started feeling insecure.

More than anything, he feels so _lonely_ and that says something—he's been more than fine just being by himself all this time.

Still... he wouldn't trade this feeling for the world. If he did, it would mean he's trading all his feelings for Hyunjin entirely, and he doesn't think he would ever want to let that go. Not when he's never felt this much _human_ in all his life.

Seungmin curls up into himself in a corner of the couch in their studio a while later, speakers blasting the song he wrote for Hyunjin on repeat to—for reasons he doesn't understand—make himself feel even worse as he cries silent tears for the first time since he was a child.

Jinyoung comes home to the sight of him tearily staring at Hyunjin's contact details on his phone, thumb hovering over the call button pathetically. The older male then stays with him for the rest of that night, holding Seungmin close to his chest and peppering him with comforting kisses until he fell asleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He doesn't know what kind of miracle brought him to campus the next morning—quite early, too—but then again, he'd much rather distract himself studying than just wallow in his sorrows at home for the whole day, especially without Jinyoung there to comfort him again for the rest of the week.

His first class would be one he shares with Hyunjin, but he highly doubts the boy would show up. He just hopes Felix and Minho already know about it so that he doesn't have to deal with any questions once he seats himself away from them today like he planned.

Dragging his feet towards the door to their classroom, however, he realizes he's not the first one to arrive, seeing it already opened wide—and there are papers scattered by the door. He slows down to a stop a few steps away from it, squinting down at the mess and trying to make sense of what seems to be printed, somewhat blurry pictures laid out on the floor, all showing a strangely familiar-looking figure of a person wearing nothing but black.

He takes a step closer and sees how there's even more of them leading into the room, and when he stops by the door, his jaw drops.

The whole classroom floor was covered with a _flood_ of similar-looking pictures, but what catches his attention even more are the huge posters stuck onto their whiteboard.

Seungmin widens his eyes.

They're not the clearest of shots, but there's no mistaking it.

They were all pictures of Hyunjin.

Hyunjin snatching a wallet from a person's back pocket. Hyunjin running with a gold necklace in his fist. Hyunjin grabbing a man by the collar, ready to throw a punch.

He looks different. Much younger. Skinnier. His hair is long enough to be tied up at the back of his head and still have the ends reach his nape—and he had no fringe.

Seungmin holds his breath.

It's his past. That's what Hyunjin keeps hiding. That's what's been keeping him on edge.

Seungmin finding out was what he's been so afraid of.

But right there and then, he feels the hugest weight finally falling off his shoulders as he lets out a big sigh. And though it should be strange for him to be relieved, he is.

 _Hyunjin didn't mean what he said._ He was just vulnerable.

Just then, he hears a noise from inside the room, and soon his eyes find themselves landing on none other than the boy himself, in a corner, knelt down helplessly on the floor with a bunch of pictures in his arms, staring up at him with wide, scared eyes, tears quickly flowing out and silently rolling down his face.

Without much thought, he moves to make his way inside, the urge to wrap the boy up in his arms and kiss his tears away immediately taking over him, but he doesn't even get the chance to take a step forward before Hyunjin stops him.

" _Don't come here!_ " he screams out with a broken voice, shrinking into himself and holding the pictures tighter to his chest with shaking hands. "Please. Go away, please..."

And for a while, Seungmin just stands there frozen on his spot, not wanting to leave Hyunjin but not quite knowing what to say either—he's still not good with words, _dammit_ —so he barely even registers the crowd already starting to form behind him, outside in the corridor, before there's a pair of hands holding his shoulders and guiding him away from the room.

"Seungmin, I'll handle this for now." When he turns, he realizes it was Minho, who gives him a small pat on the shoulder before running his way towards Hyunjin, pulling the boy into his arms and rubbing circles on his back.

Soon enough, he also hears Felix's booming voice yelling at all the students to _'get lost'_ as he closes the classroom door shut, sees Chris and Woojin talking to a couple of professors who look very much stressed at the situation, and somewhere at the back of the crowd, unseen by everyone else, were Changbin and Jisung—with a guy and a girl held captive.

Both their eyes are ice cold as they mercilessly drag the two students away from the scene with a fistful of their hairs, and Seungmin could only assume they were the cause of all this.

He doesn't get a chance to run after them when his professor calls him and stops him in his tracks, firmly telling him that _'class will be held in another room',_ while Chris and Woojin shoot him apologetic looks.

"Ten twenty-one," he hears Chris murmur to him discreetly once they pass by him before getting to work and starting to disperse the crowd along with Felix.

Seungmin blinks cluelessly. _Ten twenty-one?_

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite everything going on, Seungmin still ends up attending all his classes for the day (by himself, without any of his friends attending the other classes he supposedly shares with them), though his mind is, of course, completely elsewhere.

He messages Chris a single question mark when the clock ticks ten twenty-one, but gets nothing. At lunch time, none of them show up at the cafeteria either. Up until his feet are already bringing him to Hyunjin's place by habit after classes, he still doesn't know anything.

Though, not exactly—he did realize a few things. Hyunjin's past obviously wasn't very pretty, which explains how he knows how to street fight; all his friends definitely know about it, maybe even Jeongin, and; those two students with Changbin and Jisung have been trying to use that information to get Seungmin to leave Hyunjin.

Whatever it was, though, he just knows there's a reasonable explanation Hyunjin did what he did. And if he hadn't been living _right_ before, then Seungmin certainly sees how much better Hyunjin's life turned out to be now.

Whatever it was, he can tell his feelings for the boy hadn't changed at all.

Seungmin soon stops by the front door, hesitating; only now wondering if it's even a good time to show up in front of the boy before eventually sighing and pulling out his phone, deciding to message Chris first instead.

 

**_to: chris hyung_ **

**_from: cherry_ **

_hyung, are you home? i'm outside your door. is it okay if i come in or is that a bad idea?_

 

The door slams open before he even gets to send it, though, revealing Chris, who, to his surprise, immediately pulls him inside. " **I know I told you I'd call you because I planned to explain things to you and I haven't yet and I'm sorry, but I had to take care of a whole lot of things on campus and then there was this...** " he goes on, in _English_ —probably unconsciously again, out of what seems to be panic—until Seungmin stops him when he doesn't get to process everything he's saying anymore.

"Wait," he interrupts, holding up a hand. "How did you know I was here? And what call? You never said anything about calling me."

Chris knits his brows. "What? **I totally did.** I said ten twenty—" he abruptly pauses, slowly raising his brows this time before closing his eyes and sighing inwardly as he runs a hand down his face. "Right. Nevermind, the thing is—we made sure he got home this morning, but we didn't think he wouldn't just _stay_ home and mope around; we really thought that's what he'd very likely be doing!" Seungmin stares, waiting for more, before Chris blinks in realization and simply says, " **We can't find Hyunjin.** "

And he spins around, ready to head back out the front door. " **Really, you couldn't have told me that first?** Is he not answering your calls?"

"Seungmins, if he had brought his phone along we would have easily tracked him down by now."

Then he pauses at that, whipping his head around to face Chris with a suspicious look. "... You've all tapped your phones," he furrows his brows, putting two and two together before his eyebrows shoot up to his forehead. "And you tapped _mine,_ " he adds accusingly, eyes slowly narrowing into slits the more Chris avoids his gaze and coughs awkwardly.

"Yeah I definitely should have waited for you to knock..." the older male murmurs to himself, rubbing his nape sheepishly.

Seungmin shakes his head a little before facing the door again to turn the knob. He'll get his answers later. "Let's split up."

"You're breaking up with me?"

"What? No. We're not breaking—wait, what? Hyung."

"Sorry, I'm stressed out. Let's go."

 

 

 

 

 

 

An hour and three miles later, Seungmin finally spots the boy's lone figure sitting on a swing at an empty park.

With a relieved sigh, he stops to catch his breath first, taking his phone out to type a quick _'found him'_ to their group chat of nine before pocketing it back and immediately heading towards the boy with big strides.

Hyunjin lifts his head up in alert and sees him, and in an instant, he's up on his feet, eyes wide, puffy and quickly filled with tears before he turns around and starts to walk away with hurried steps.

"Hyunjin, please," Seungmin calls, but Hyunjin just starts walking even faster at that, so he ends up running again until he manages to grab the boy's wrist, who, in turn, persists with trying to pull his arm out of his grasp—but Seungmin's stronger.

With a firm pull, he easily turns Hyunjin around and has him stumbling into his arms, wrapping him up in a protective embrace before heaving out another big sigh of relief as he rests his forehead on the boy's shoulder. "Little sunshine, you had me so worried..."

And for a moment, Hyunjin just stays still, but when Seungmin leans his head back to look at him, he all but bursts into tears, crying his whole heart out without holding back anything anymore, quite endearingly like how little children would whenever they say sorry for something they did wrong.

Seungmin almost chuckles when Hyunjin sobs out a messed up set of words as a question, possibly of why Seungmin's not mad at him and still holding him right now—if _'_ _why,' 'hugging,'_ and _'_ _unmad'_ are anything to go by—but instead, he holds the boy closer and slowly sways him side to side, hand reaching up to caress the back of his head gingerly in hopes to calm him down a little.

It certainly doesn't work, however; Hyunjin cries even harder because of that, but at least now he's tightly hugging Seungmin back.

He doesn't know how long they stay like that, or how weird it must look for him to be smiling through the whole thing while Hyunjin kept bawling his eyes out, but he doesn't mind.

Now he knows everything is finally okay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Um... Won't you tell me why, now?"

Seungmin looks over his shoulder to face Hyunjin with a fond smile, watching the boy pout at him with a small sniffle, before chuckling and looking back straight ahead as he continues to walk while carrying Hyunjin on his back. "We have plenty of time to talk once we get home. Besides, you're not done crying yet."

"But I'm done crying! You saw all those things. You should be _disappointed._ Why did you come looking for me? Oh my God, did—did the other guys lie to you for me? I swear it was me in those pictures, my hair was just long and it was brown and—"

"Hyunjin, no one's said anything to me. I pretty much know nothing about it."

"Then... why?"

Seungmin presses his lips together and hums thoughtfully, turning his head once more to see Hyunjin looking at him with big, curious eyes, before he smiles softly at the precious sight and leans in to nuzzle his nose lovingly on the boy's cheek.

By this point, he doesn't think it's still too early to feel this way anymore.

"Because I love you."

He's never seen Hyunjin so stunned. His mouth is falling wide open, his eyes have practically turned into saucers, and the tips of his ears and his face are beet red down to his neck.

With a smug grin, Seungmin faces the road again, but soon enough, he finds himself laughing when he hears Hyunjin starting to cry in tiny whimpers once more, sobbing softly into the back of Seungmin's shirt. "See? Not done crying."

The half whine, half sob he gets from Hyunjin just makes him laugh even more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"So..." Hyunjin shifts awkwardly on his seat beside Seungmin on the couch, staring up at him like a lost child. "You're just, going to sit there in front of me and wait for me to explain everything? Like, _everything?_ "

Seungmin blinks and nods slowly. "You can take all the time you need. Jinyoung hyung won't be coming home tonight anyway."

Hyunjin brings his palms up to his cheeks and squishes them, staring into nowhere while blinking to himself. "Oh my gosh, where do I even start? I've never had to talk about this before this is all so new, how will I ever finish—"

"How about you start by calming down," Seungmin moves over to collect the boy into his arms and pulls him to sit in between his legs, back pressed against his chest as he hugs Hyunjin's waist before resting his chin on the boy's shoulder. Hyunjin's body relaxes almost immediately as he curls up into his hold. "And you can maybe continue with telling me the reason behind those pictures."

Hyunjin grimaces for a moment at that, before placing his hands over Seungmin's, playing with his fingers as he takes a deep breath. "Okay. Well... it started with this. We... got thrown out of our homes."

Seungmin stills. _We?_

"The seven of us knew each other because we were all living in the same town with our families for quite a while. We became great friends and told each other everything and anything, and... that includes us being—well," Hyunjin moves a hand around vaguely, letting out a silent snort. "Not straight."

 _Oh._ Seungmin inhales slowly, silently lacing his fingers with Hyunjin.

"I don't know what came over our heads back then, but we decided one day to come out to our parents all together. Not as a group, of course—just, all at the same day. Then by night time, we were all crying outside our front porches with all our clothes thrown to the ground."

He closes his eyes. "I'm sorry."

Hyunjin squeezes his hand gently. "We were lucky enough that some of our relatives let us live with them instead, but we knew it was definitely burdensome to them in one way or another," he breathes out, and breathes in. "That's when we started. Stealing bread from bakeries, pickpocketing strangers in the streets, selling jewelry we snagged off of tourists, and all those suburban crimes.

"It was really supposed to be just that, but it wasn't that big of a town and almost everyone knew about us. About why we were disowned by our families. So naturally, we got bullied often by a lot of other kids. And really, we tried our best to just let it be, but everytime they beat us up they took _everything._ They never left behind a single cent and we were starved.

"We couldn't take it; we started fighting back. And before we knew it... we were turning into a _gang,_ " he laughs a little, shaking his head. "Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? It took months before we realized it. We were just blindly fighting and stealing to survive a little better, then somehow, we ended up getting so good at it we became undefeatable. Then it became our lifestyle. And it worked wonders for us.

"Half of the money we saved, we spent on earpieces, laptops, bikes, arms—everything we could ever need to keep living that way." Seungmin raises his brows in realization, recalling the time Felix whipped out a pair of nunchucks out of nowhere and how Hyunjin just somehow responded to it so _naturally_. "We started coming up with plans and strategies on how we could win fights, learned how to hack nearly everything to dig through enemies' information, and then the people who used to bully us became people _we_ beat up to take their money instead."

"Quick question," Seungmin blurts out before he knows it, and Hyunjin hums as a quiet way of telling him _shoot._ "Which one of you guys tapped my phone?"

Hyunjin chokes a little at that and turns to look at him in surprise. "What—when did you find that out?"

"Earlier. Chan hyung knew I was at the door even though I was just standing there quietly."

"... Why were you just standing there quietly?"

"Babe, I asked you a question first."

"Okay, okay," Hyunjin pouts, resting his back against Seungmin's chest again. "Just so you know, I told them not to! But they still did, because they knew I wouldn't be there to stop them back then when I had to stay home for a week because of my sprain. They said they secretly took your phone during lunch time. Jisung and Minho hyung."

Seungmin narrows his eyes slowly. "And why would they want to do that?"

"Because they consider you a part of the gang now." Seungmin raises a brow, and Hyunjin quickly shakes his head. "No, like the group! It's like a thing between us. Back then, we often had trouble with our earpieces whenever we needed to tell one another our locations for back up, so we just went and tapped all our phones to find anyone easily. We still do it now just for the fun of it—well, Chan hyung and Woojin hyung mostly use it to see if we aren't skipping out on classes—and I guess they just thought it'd be natural for you to be part of this weird tradition too, especially since we did the same for Jeongin."

Seungmin pauses, remembering how Hyunjin mentioned just _'the seven of us'_ before blinking in realization. "Jeongin wasn't part of the gang."

"No, he wasn't," Hyunjin shakes his head, curving his lips up into a smile. "He's a blessing to us, actually. If Minho hyung hadn't met him, we might still be hooligans right now. It was Jeongin who made him realize he wanted to be something else. One day he just spoke up in front of us and said he didn't want to live like that anymore because he wanted to be a better person for Jeongin.

"Then suddenly..." Hyunjin pauses, laughing quietly. "Suddenly, the plans and strategies we were making weren't about fights anymore. We started trying to figure out how we can put our lives back together in a new city. Live like normal boys. Get jobs, go to college, and all that stuff," he smiles softly, resting the side of his head onto Seungmin's shoulder.

Seungmin tilts his head. "But you're not working right now."

"Yes. But we all saved up enough to live our first years in college as _just_ students in the meantime. The hyungs said it might be better to focus on our studies first because the first year is always the most hectic one, apparently. So now, the hyungs are the only ones working part-time jobs since they have much less classes to attend to. I think things turned out pretty well," he hums thoughtfully, nodding.

"I think everything turned out great," Seungmin murmurs, leaning down to press a kiss onto his forehead and chuckling when he sees the boy flush a little, smiling shyly up at him.

"Well it wasn't... very easy at first," Hyunjin bites down on his lip. "Especially for me. Everyone could see how my personality really changed when we turned bad. They were all adjusting to the new lifestyle so quickly, but it took a while before I really stopped snatching wallets and easily getting mad at everything and everyone by habit. That's why I was scared I'd mess up in front of you after being reminded of the past," he says the last bit much more quietly, peering up at Seungmin with sorry eyes. "And I did."

"I was at fault too," Seungmin gives his hand a gentle squeeze. "I pushed you for answers even though you clearly couldn't bring yourself to tell me out of fear. And I shouldn't have left you. It's... just been so long since I last felt so strongly. And the only thing I thought of doing that time was to build up my walls again and leave."

"But you deserved to know what was happening," Hyunjin looks down, fiddling with Seungmin's shirt. "You think you haven't been talking about yourself enough to me but it's really the other way around. You never even really knew why I've been living with Chan hyung instead of my parents. Seungminnie, I'm the one who keeps talking but I never really spoke up. I'm sorry..."

"Hey, it's okay," he whispers, tilting the boy's chin up with a gentle finger and planting a soft peck onto his lips. "I'm sorry too."

The cute little smile he gets from that makes him shower the boy in even more kisses all over his face, earning a tiny squeal and a giggle. "My prince is so kissy."

Seungmin smiles fondly. "Sometimes it's still really hard to believe you're a badass at all, princess."

Hyunjin grins and nuzzles his nose onto Seungmin's cheek. "You know, when we just moved to this city, Chan hyung told me something like that too. He caught me staring longingly at a bunch of cake pops I couldn't afford—through a window from outside a café, once—and he kept teasing me for weeks about how _'the badass street fighter wants to eat cake pops, how terrifying!'_ " he acts out with a poorly imitated Chan-voice, laughing brightly before sighing with a soft smile. "And then he used his very first paycheck to buy them for me on my eighteenth birthday."

Seungmin's heart swells. He didn't think those pastries could mean so much to the boy.

"He's the one who helped me completely stop stealing too. You see, I happen to have the fastest pair of hands among the seven of us." Just then, the memory of the boy swiftly catching the falling plate replays in his head, and he lets out a quiet _'oh, damn'_ when it all finally starts making sense.

Hyunjin grins at that and nods. "Yeah. Chan hyung gave me something better to do with them," he sits up properly and faces Seungmin, clapping his hands together once, before opening up his palms to reveal a small paper origami of a heart resting in his hands, handing it to him with a bright smile.

Seungmin takes it with the fondest grin, his free hand reaching up to caress the boy's cheek lovingly. "Your hands are wonderful."

"I love you."

He widens his eyes in surprise, seeing Hyunjin gazing at him earnestly and a little shyly, bottom lip tucked in between his teeth as he blushes.

And Seungmin doesn't think he's ever smiled so wide before. "... Can you say that again, sunshine?"

"Nope," Hyunjin palms his reddened cheeks again, shaking his head vigorously in embarrassment. "I think I've already used up all my courage and bravery for the day, so—"

"But I didn't hear it clearly."

"Yes you did!"

"Uh, not clearly enough?"

He gets a pillow thrown at his face. "Kim Seungmin, you are insufferable."

He simply sets aside the pillow with a smug smirk. "Have I ever told you how sexy it is whenever you get annoyed at me and call me by my full name?"

" _Kim—_ oh my God, I'm leaving. I hate you."

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Hey, what does ten twenty-one mean?" he asks a while later, when they're nearly done eating dinner.

"It means I'll—" the boy starts to answer naturally with his mouth full and abruptly pauses, looking up at Seungmin with a confused frown. "Wait, where did you hear that from?"

"It's something Chan hyung told me earlier today."

Hyunjin blinks at him for a few times and suddenly bursts out laughing, covering his mouth as he tries to chew the rest of the food still inside and swallows. Seungmin knits his brows and tilts his head. "What?"

"He meant to say he'll call you," Hyunjin giggles, shaking his head in amusement as he stands up and heads to the fridge. "See what I mean? Everyone considers you a part of the gang so much they forget you weren't part of the _actual_ gang and end up even talking to you using our codes. Though, considering you're like the strongest fighter out of all of us, it's not that surprising."

Seungmin blinks owlishly as he watches Hyunjin opening the door to the fridge. "I don't know if looking like a gang member is a good thing, but thank you. Orange juice on the left."

"Yay!" Hyunjin cheers, happily taking out a bottle of the juice before peering back inside and letting out a confused noise, pulling out a small container and turning around to face Seungmin with an unreadable expression. "There's... something here for you," he closes the fridge carefully with a foot, walking back to the table and taking his seat again as he places the container in front of Seungmin.

Then, he notices a note stuck onto the lid.

 

 

**Here's some strawberries for you, Cheri. Don't cry anymore, okay?**

 

And when he looks back up at Hyunjin, the boy's already looking down guiltily at his lap. "You were crying."

Seungmin briefly purses his lips before nodding. "Yes. I was." Hyunjin flinches at that. "I cried again for the first time in more than ten years," he reaches for the boy's hand under the table to catch his attention, smiling when Hyunjin meets his eyes again. "Because you make me feel human. And I quite like feeling that way."

"Stop talking about yourself like you're some kind of robot," the boy mumbles through a small pout. "You've always been perfectly human to me. You should see yourself through my eyes."

Seungmin raises an amused brow. "Did you somehow just quote the song I wrote for you?"

Hyunjin sputters. "No. Yes. Maybe? No. Shut up, I just love it a lot okay! Why isn't it released yet!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later on, for the eighth time in the past fifteen minutes, Hyunjin whines and stomps his foot, refusing to go any closer to the front door. "Are you seriously going to send me home? I don't wanna go. It's already late!"

"You had Chan hyung really worried, Hyunjin. I think it's just right that you come home to see him."

"But you already told him I'm with you, didn't you?"

"Hyunjin."

"If you did, then it's really okay! He won't mind at all and I'm sure he'd be happy for me if I stayed!"

Seungmin crosses his arms, and Hyunjin pouts immediately, walking up to him and curling his fingers into his shirt. "Please? I feel like I've been missing you so much these past few weeks."

He slowly narrows his eyes then, until they widen on their own again when he sees Hyunjin leaning in and pressing a soft, brief kiss onto his lips, pulling back with another shy pout.

Hyunjin almost never kisses him first.

"... Baby, you have to—" he gets cut off with another kiss, to his surprise, lips slowly moving against his in a slightly more sensual manner this time as he feels a pair of arms wrapping around his neck as well.

And when he sees the way Hyunjin bites on his bottom lip and stares up at him pleadingly through his lashes, Seungmin realizes he can't win this anymore.

"Please, Seungminnie?" Hyunjin whispers, his cheeks flushed a pretty shade of pink as he folds a leg up against Seungmin's side invitingly.

_Damn._

Before he knows it, he already has an arm wrapped around the boy's waist and a firm hand under his thigh, keeping it in place as he murmurs lowly into his ear. "Baby boy, you played dirty."

Hyunjin then giggles quietly and just presses himself closer to him. "Just kiss me already."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sPICY huh 👀  
> anywho!! this is like!! your last chance to comment while this fic is still incomplete!! ~~i don't actually know why that matters but pls consider leaving a comment if you enjoyed reading this chapter _c ries_ i actually kind of enjoyed writing this one even if it feels messy,,~~  
> —  
> this is the third and last time i'm going to shamelessly promote 2min in this story!! pls consider reading my new [2min drabble](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19308079) if you ship them! <3  
> —  
> [tumblr](https://www.seungjin-chan.tumblr.com) | [twitter](https://www.twitter.com/seungjin_chan) | [curiouscat](https://www.curiouscat.me/seungjin_chan)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so so much for letting me reach 406 kudos even before this was completed!  
> i personally find more than half of this chapter to be cringeworthy and rushed and just Not Good in general, and everytime i tried to make it better, i failed and maybe this is just really the limit of my Capabilities™ right now and i'm sorry ㅠ  
> i apologize for taking longer than usual as well, but this is the longest chapter in this story ~~although i think it sucks the most too shgdbdjd~~ but i hope you still somehow enjoy this ending with 7.5k words!

**_to: cherry (10:44)_ **

**_from: chris hyung_ **

_10-25 student council room at noon!_

 

**_to: chris hyung (10:56)_ **

**_from: cherry_ **

_you're going to have to send me a list of your codes, hyung._

 

**_to: cherry (10:57)_ **

**_from: chris hyung_ **

_oh_

_sure thing c_

_[ document file attached]_

 

**_to: chris hyung (11:02)_ **

**_from: cherry_ **

_hyung._

_these are hacking codes._

_useful, yes, but that's not what i was asking for..._

 

**_(11:21)_ **

_hyung?_

 

**_to: cherry (11:22)_ **

**_from: chris hyung_ **

_10-6_

 

**_to: chris hyung (11:23)_ **

**_from: cherry_ **

_okay that doesn't help._

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seungmin arrives at the student council room at noon, as Chris requested (he hopes he did), and when he opens the door, the sight that greets him is none other than the gang. ( _"That's what you'll call all of us, from this day forth!"_ Hyunjin had demanded yesterday.)

On the couch was a resting Woojin with his head on Felix's lap, who's currently petting the eldest's head while also talking to Jisung, who's seated by his side. Chris is sitting up on the armrest with an arm slung around Jisung's shoulders, Changbin is seated by the table with his feet up, and Minho has placed himself on the table itself.

Seungmin raises a brow. Last time he checked, only Woojin and Chris were part of the student council.

It's only when he closes the door does everyone notice him, heads perking up in delight as they all greet him with the same amount of enthusiasm.

"Great! We're all here," Chris clasps his hands together and gestures him to take a seat, so he looks around and awkwardly settles himself on the chair beside Changbin's.

"No we're not," Felix speaks up with a confused frown, gaze directed at Seungmin. "Where's Hyunjin?"

"Hyunjin's suspended for a week," Chris answers for him instead, causing everyone but Woojin in the room to blink in surprise—but to Seungmin's amusement, their surprise is quick to dissipate in the end as they hum and nod in understanding. "Woojins and I did our best not to get him expelled for something that was in the past. I picked him up from Seungmin's this morning and drove him home, though, if you still wanna know where he is."

"You used the car? I thought you two always preferred walking," Jisung questions, knitting his brows.

With a brief glance at Seungmin, Chris looks back at Jisung and says, "He's having a hard time walking, love."

"Oh. What happened?" Felix looks concerned, exchanging worried looks with Jisung. Seungmin doesn't fail to see the disgruntled expressions on Minho and Changbin's faces.

There's only silence in the room for a few moments when Chris chooses not to say anything to that, until both Felix and Jisung suddenly gasp and stand up—forcing a poor Woojin out of his lap-pillow—letting out random, loud whooping noises and cheers as they highfive, fistbump, and sling arms around each other's shoulders as they dance a happy jig while obnoxiously singing _olé olé._

Seungmin is puzzled only for a second, instantly understanding what had been going on when the two boys hold their hands out expectantly to Minho and Changbin, who dejectedly pull out their wallets and hand some bills to them.

"Wow," Jisung grins widely at him as he pockets the money, before reaching over to give him a playful punch on the shoulder. "I knew I'd be right, but _damn,_ Seungmin!"

As if on cue, everyone else follows suit after that—even the two who lost their bet, shoving him playfully with bright, mischievous grins on their faces, and Seungmin can't help rolling his eyes with an amused quirk of his lips. (It almost feels as if they just betrayed Hyunjin—their own best friend—like the great people they are, and he finds it highly entertaining.)

"Alright, let's settle down," Chris claps his hands again after a while as he walks towards the blank whiteboard, flipping it over to show the other side that's already been written on—pretty much without an inch of space left to write on anymore.

"Okay," Felix squints, scrunching up his nose in distaste. "That is a _lot_ to take in. I refuse to read, I'll just listen."

Chris presses his lips together before nodding. "Fair enough, this is just so I can explain things in sequence anyway," he pulls out a red marker and pops off the cap, turning to the board and encircling two names. "So there's Kim Geunseok and Jung Yuna. We—"

"Two-forty? I'm on it," Minho says in one breath as he gets on his feet, his gaze dark and almost terrifying, to Seungmin's slight surprise, but Woojin stops him before he gets to walk to the door.

"Not just yet, Minho," he waves a hand dismissively, gesturing him to sit back down. "You all need to listen to the plans Chan and I made first. Also, Jisung and Changbin already did two-forty. Which was wrong, by the way," he pauses, giving both Jisung and Changbin a look that makes them shift their gazes away guiltily. "We received letters of complaints this morning and now you two have suspension warnings."

"I mean, it's nothing compared to the amount of suspension warnings Seungmin and Hyunjin have, am I right?" Jisung laughs, then clears his throat when Chris crosses his arms at him, mumbling a quiet _'sorry.'_

"Anyway," Chris resumes, turning back to the board. "As it turns out, Kim Geunseok was the one who had all the photos. He was a classmate of Hyunjin's from high school and carries a grudge from when his girlfriend dumped him because she liked Hyunjins," he snorts and rolls his eyes. "And then, Jung Yuna is a random student in this university who obsessively likes Hyunjins, and would very much prefer if he and Seungmins broke up so she teamed up with the dude."

"I can't believe Hyunjin and I never saw that," Felix mumbles and frowns to himself, shaking his head before gesturing for them to proceed.

"Both their parents work here so they'd likely have no plans on dropping out," Woojin continues, briefly glancing at Seungmin. "That's the purpose of this meeting, by the way. We're gonna have them both expelled. Chan and I hacked through an unhealthy amount of systems to dig for information," he says as he covers his mouth and stifles a yawn, before adding, "we have proof that Kim Geunseok is a drug dealer and Jung Yuna has been sleeping with professors to get passing grades."

Everyone lets out disgusted noises and scrunches up their faces at that.

"And now that we _do_ have something we can blackmail them with, here's what we're gonna do."

"Wow," Minho speaks up, glancing over at Seungmin with an amused grin. "Feels weird doing this without Hyunjin but with _Seungmin,_ huh?"

Changbin snorts, equally amused. "Ten-twelve, hyung."

Seungmin runs a hand down his face. "Someone, please give me a list of the codes."

"We'll make you one later, Cheri," Chris nods at him and immediately proceeds, leaving Seungmin flustered and a little bit shocked at the name slip. "We attack in four days. They're under different departments, so they have classes on separate buildings. Jisung will take Jung Yuna's. Minho, take Kim Geunseok's. The rest of you guys split up to help them. You'll be tampering with a whole lot of shit, so we're starting right away. Woojins and I will have to show up at our classes while you guys are doing the job that day—but we'll be preparing everything you need beforehand."

And just like that, for the next two hours—indeed, they all miss a class—Seungmin learns what it's like to be part of their gang.

He still doesn't understand what they say most of the time because they keep using numbers instead of words, they bicker a _lot,_ they seem to have trouble remembering he isn't Hyunjin—who probably knows anything and everything about what they do when it comes to strategies—and just assume he knows what they're talking about, but luckily, Seungmin finds himself catching up just fine and even enjoying the whole thing with them.

And somewhere along the way, as he starts to recognize that bubbly feeling in his chest around them, he thinks—if Jinyoung is the first best thing to ever happen to him, Hyunjin second, then he wants to make them the third.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"... let go of me! Let go!"

Seungmin quirks the corner of his lips up into a smirk when he hears a girl's voice approaching, waiting until the door opens and reveals Jisung easily dragging Jung Yuna along with him and roughly shoving her into the room before locking the door behind him.

Jung Yuna momentarily freezes at the sight of him, turning around and making a run for the door, but Jisung just grabs her by the shoulders and throws her stumbling back in front of Seungmin. "You're going to pay for what you did to my friend, bitch."

Seungmin shoots a tentative glance at Jisung, who immediately picks up his silent question and quirks his lips up into a discreet smirk, eyes shifting towards Jung Yuna's bag.

Seungmin nods and adjusts his earpiece with a grin. "Ten ninety-five."

 _"Hey, you're getting the hang of it!"_ Felix's proud, cheery voice sounds through the device. _"I just brought Kim Geunseok to the radio studio here too. Changbin hyung and Minho hyung are already in the middle of scaring the shit out of him. You better get started on yours too!"_

"Will do, Lix."

There's a pause. _"Holy shit. 'Lix'? You sounded just like Hyunjin from our gang days! Wait, is this Hyunjin right now? Jinnie, you know you're not supposed to be on campus grounds yet! Jisung is going to be furious and you know he's never gonna let you hear the end of it and..."_ Felix continues on, leaving Seungmin dumbfounded.

"Hey C," Jisung calls from across the room, momentarily surprising Seungmin at the sudden nickname, before pointing his thumb towards the wall clock.

"I'll talk to you later," he says just before turning off his mic, feeling his heart swell a little when he hears Felix happily say _'go get 'em, C!'_ through his earpiece.

With a deep breath, Seungmin soon focuses back on the scared girl and stares at her through a judging squint, briefly closing his eyes to collect himself as he's reminded of how this very person in front of him has been the cause of Hyunjin's tears and heartache for almost a whole month.

"You have four minutes before classes begin. Make a choice. Either you read this outloud," he picks up a stack of papers from the desk and hands it to her, pointing his thumb towards the microphone in the middle of all the sound equipment, before fishing out a flash drive from his shirt pocket. "Or we plug this in instead and play a _very_ disturbing clip of you and a certain professor."

The look of sheer horror on her face makes both him and Jisung grin in triumph.

"Y—you're bluffing. You're just saying that so I'd agree to reading this shit and get myself in trouble!"

Jisung snorts. "With all due respect, the plan is to get you in trouble either way," he pulls out his phone, briefly tapping and swiping at the screen before holding it out in front of him, speakers blasting nothing but inappropriate sounds as the video plays. "We do have it."

She turns absolutely red at the sounds coming from the phone, mortified as Jisung even goes as far as turning up the volume just to watch her suffer. "Stop! Stop it!"

Jisung smirks and pauses it, pocketing back his phone.

Seungmin then crosses his arms, a single brow raised as he looks down at her mockingly. "You get to choose which is worse. Lucky you."

"... Fine," she grits her teeth as she closes her eyes in defeat, letting out an exasperated huff through her nose. "I'll read it."

"And remember, it's a radio broadcast," Jisung adds, slyly looking over at Seungmin before pocketing his hands in feigned nonchalance. "You have to speak clearly."

At that, she pauses and seems to give it a thought, blinking to herself while knitting her brows.

 _Ha._ Tricked.

Jisung mouths _'she's gonna make her voice sound like a minion'_ at him and Seungmin just bites back a laugh, before checking the wall clock and making his way towards the other boy, who's already pushing the door open for them.

"Oh yeah," he stops after taking a step outside, peering back inside and dropping one last statement before he closes the door.

"Hyunjin's slept with me. Bye."

 

 

 

 

 

 

The clock strikes nine, and the radio's short melodic tune plays just in time as every single student's phone, every professor's laptop and every faculty room's desktop computer screen within the two buildings turns black, causing everyone shock and confusion.

Moments later, there's footage of their respective radio studios showing up on their screens, revealing Jung Yuna in one building and Kim Geunseok in the other, both unaware of the planted cameras pointing right at them.

 _"Good morning, students,"_ they both greet a little shakily, eyes cast down to the stack of papers in their hands as they proceed to read. _"Exams are drawing near and all the test papers have already been finalized, printed, and can no longer be changed. You may take out your notes."_

"Wait, did that son of a bitch just mess with all our phones?"

"Why is she talking like that?"

"Someone go to the studio and stop this broadcast immediately!"

Countless students' murmurs are heard and the professors are either yelling _'what's going on'_ in annoyance or telling the students to settle down, but it's only short-lived before the beginning of total chaos ensues throughout the two buildings at what they hear next.

_"First, business law for second years." "First, basic engineering for first years."_

_"Test one has thirty items." "Test one has twenty items."_

_"The answers are D, C, A, B, B, D..." "The answers are B, A, A, C, D, A..."_

 

 

 

(Somewhere along the corridors, the real masterminds are laughing their heads off while sprinting their way back to their own building, ready to show up late to class.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

"In the end, their exams had to be postponed a whole week later than the rest of the whole campus."

Hyunjin takes more than just a moment to process everything in his head as he owlishly stares at Seungmin, who then curls his lips up into a little sheepish smile, reaching up to carefully brush Hyunjin's fringe aside.

He had just spent the past twenty minutes in the living room listening to Jisung talk about how they all prepared and executed their whole operation—that they kept a _secret_ from him—and from what he understands, while it's expected that Minho's the one who messes around with the equipment in the other building as his share of the work, _Seungmin_ had been the one to do all the tweaking and setting up in the other studio, when it should normally be Jisung's job to do.

It had always been Minho and Jisung doing that kind of work because it's the most critical part of their strategies that allows no mistakes, and if Hyunjin remembers correctly, even those two took _months_ before they could fully master that skill.

He is, undoubtedly, overwhelmed.

Apparently, Jisung had instead been meeting up with Felix to catch the dude together first and steal some of the drugs he had on him, which Jisung then slipped into the girl's bag as he was bringing her to Seungmin.

Their splendid show was easily blamed on them being high on drugs they definitely weren't high on, and finally, they were expelled.

"So you hacked your way through exam answers, controlled all their devices, and you framed them for _everything,_ " Hyunjin laughs in disbelief, slapping a hand over his forehead. "I can't believe I was missing out on all this action and no one ever told me. I feel betrayed."

"If you found out, you'd definitely want in and go to campus while you're still suspended," Jisung points out, linking arms with Chan's as he pulls the older male up with him, standing up from the couch. "And my boyfriend would have to defend you again and stay behind instead of going on a date with me. But hey—you're like, the _worst_ at everything unrelated to fighting, you wouldn't have done much help anyway."

Hyunjin scoffs, offended, crossing his arms over his chest as he opens his mouth to argue, until Chan cuts him off instead with a chuckle. "Actually, Hyunjins, Jisung's kind of right."

"Damn right I am," Jisung snorts. "I think we would have been way more dangerous if we had your boyfriend with us back then. You wanna know something? Minho hyung and I have only been teaching him what we know for... what, a few days? And we're _terrified,_ Hyunjin," he shudders, rubbing at his arms. "He doesn't even need us to teach him anymore and he could probably break down the _government walls_ if he wanted to. Minho hyung and I couldn't do that even if we worked together!"

As Hyunjin lets his mouth slightly fall open in shock, Seungmin then presses his lips together, glancing between the three of them unsurely.

Chan catches on. "Hey, we're not scared of you, C," he chuckles, fondling with Seungmin's hair gently, and Hyunjin's gaze softens at the way he visibly relaxes under Chan's touch. "Jisung just thinks you're really great."

"You're amazing, and that's coming from all six of us!" Jisung exclaims, starting to tug Chan towards the front door, ready to go. "Plus you're like, five times better at fighting than any of us, and we thought _we_ were good," he adds on the way, opening the door and heading outside with Chan, who gives them a wave. "Now, if you'll excuse us, hyung and I have a date to go to, and he won't be coming home. Snowball will keep you company. Bye, C!"

The door shuts quite loudly—a typical Jisung move—and Hyunjin is finally left alone with Seungmin in the living room.

By habit, he automatically crawls onto Seungmin's lap, fingers lacing behind the redhead's nape and legs wrapping around his torso in a cuddle. "Seungminnie, you're so great at being badass and now I'm being kicked out of my own gang," he grumbles through a pout, jutting his lips out even more when Seungmin chuckles at him.

"No one said that," he shakes his head with a soft smile, arms securely wrapping around Hyunjin's waist. "If it makes you feel any better, I think I've gotten along a lot better with the gang lately," he leans up to Hyunjin's face, nuzzling his nose gently and giving it a small kiss.

Hyunjin flushes a little, momentarily getting cross-eyed at the action before gasping in realization. "You called us the gang!" he squeals, hugging Seungmin tightly and rubbing their cheeks together happily. "Okay, yes, I actually am very glad to see you're getting closer while I'm not around. I mean, where did 'C' even come from?"

Seungmin's the one who gets flustered this time, gaze faltering as he briefly glances to the side and back. "I think it came from Chris hyung. He—"

"Who?"

"Oh," he breathes out, grinning a little bashfully. "I meant Chan hyung. He and I pretty much know of each other through Jinyoung hyung, remember? We both seem to have tried adjusting to how most of you guys call us, but I think we've just been really more used to referring to each other as Cheri and Chris hyung because of Jinyoung hyung. I think he unconsciously started calling me Cheri again ever since we started getting closer," he murmurs, cheeks dusting a light shade of pink. "I got flustered everytime, though, so he settled for C."

Hyunjin raises his brows, lips curving up into a fond smile. "And now everyone else calls you that too?"

"Everyone but Jeongin, which is understandable—but yeah, everyone else calls me that now and... it makes me happy," Seungmin's voice grows smaller and smaller as he seems to shrink a little in embarrassment too, and Hyunjin's heart just melts.

"See?" he smiles softly, leaning down to nuzzle the tip of his nose against Seungmin's and pressing a quick peck on it. "You belong with us, my prince. We all love and adore you very much."

Seungmin returns the smile, gaze briefly shifting down to Hyunjin's lips before swooping in to plant soft, little kisses on it, chuckling as Hyunjin starts giggling. "I love you."

His breath gets caught in his throat for a while, feeling his face heat up as he bites down on his lower lip shyly and whispers, "I love you too."

"You're so beautiful," Seungmin breathes out quietly, cupping his cheek in one of his hands and gingerly caressing it with his thumb before moving to tuck some of Hyunjin's hair behind his ear with an adoring smile.

Hyunjin whines and ducks his head down in embarrassment. "Stop flustering me."

"You like it."

"No I don't," he grumbles out a lie through a pout, and Seungmin raises a brow.

"You also tell me to stop teasing you in bed, but you always tremble excitedly when I do and—"

Hyunjin yelps and covers Seungmin's mouth, shooting him a glare, which the latter simply eyesmiles at. "Kim Seungmin."

Seungmin easily pries his hand away from his mouth and holds it instead, lacing their fingers together as he curls his lips up into a sly smile. "Babe, you do know that turns me on, don't you?"

Hyunjin widens his eyes in realization and quickly scrambles off of Seungmin's lap, shrieking and wildly flailing his arms as he makes a run for it.

(Granted, Seungmin really _is_ five times stronger than he is and catches him very easily, and when Seungmin takes his sweet time teasing him a lot more later that night, it _does_ arouse him and makes him want it even more—but Hyunjin would much rather not admit that outloud.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're both still very much half-naked—Seungmin without his shirt on and Hyunjin with nothing _but_ his shirt on—when Hyunjin suddenly realizes something.

"Seungminnie," he starts, blinking to himself thoughtfully as he tilts his head. Seungmin hums in response, hoisting himself backwards to rest his back against the headboard as he pulls Hyunjin along by the waist. "I never did tell you what made me try so hard to be your friend, did I?"

"Aside from thinking I look pretty?"

Seungmin earns a slap to his chest. "I'm trying to confess here," Hyunjin huffs, crossing his arms sulkily.

"You know, it _is_ a little strange that you're trying to confess something after what we just did and while you're still technically sitting on my—"

Hyunjin reaches to cover his mouth again, and Seungmin just chuckles in amusement before holding his hand and gesturing for him to proceed. "I wanted to make you smile. You see, you looked just like me before I turned my life around."

Seungmin cocks his head aside, and Hyunjin takes a moment to think. "All you had was Jinyoung hyung, right? All I had was the gang. They were all we ever fought for and we didn't open up to anyone else. You were practically exuding the exact same air as I did back in the day."

"True," murmurs Seungmin, knitting his brows a little in thought.

"And I think the others saw me in you too. I mean, it took them a little longer to realize it than I did, but I just get the feeling they did. It took a while before you really let them in too, didn't it?" he pauses, giving Seungmin's hand a gentle squeeze. "But... I just want you to know how glad I am that you did. That you let us find a place in your life."

"But you had to try so hard," Seungmin whispers, looking away guiltily. "I'm sorry you still have to keep trying hard even now."

Hyunjin's gaze softens before he gently cups Seungmin's face and coaxes him to look back up at him again, giving him a soft smile. "You know, Seungminnie, I always found it easy to get what I wanted. Not just in the literal sense because my hands are quick, but figuratively too. I always knew I could make a bunch of friends anytime and anywhere, or become this high-ranking scholar again like I was in high school—or both, if I really wanted to—but everytime I achieved something without having to try, it always felt like it wasn't anything special and... I just end up feeling bad about it.

"So I guess when I first met you, it just... urged me to try. I wanted to actually _earn_ your friendship and deserve it. I mean," he pauses, blushing a little as he starts to speak more quietly, "I didn't expect I'd fall in love with you along the way, but... when you smiled at me for the first time, it felt like the best day of my life."

When he slowly looks back up at Seungmin, the boy's already staring right back at him in wonder, his eyes full of adoration as a small, pretty smile tugs up the corners of his lips.

Hyunjin finds himself smiling back brightly at the sight, and there's really nothing more Seungmin needs to say.

Craning his neck forward, Hyunjin captures his lips into another kiss, arms finding their way back around Seungmin's neck as he's held even closer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a little bit of help from everyone, Hyunjin fortunately gets to catch up on his classes before exam week.

His grades plummeted significantly enough to have to retake some of his classes next semester if he doesn't work his butt off making up for everything he's missed, and Seungmin took it as a cue to temporarily stop most of their routines together so he can focus on studying first.

Ergo, Hyunjin's been nothing but cranky for the past two weeks.

He hasn't had dinner with Seungmin ever since then, nor has he been able to come over _once_ at their place. The only instance they get to spend more time together at all other than being in the same class, lunch, and having Seungmin walk him home is when the latter insists to help him study at the campus library during their free time.

The worst part about it is that Seungmin isn't letting him practice any new magic tricks until exams are over. ( _"That's the worst part?"_ Chan had laughed at him once, when Hyunjin spent an afternoon just complaining about Seungmin's new rules. Chan, apparently, turned out to have been asked by the redhead to keep an eye on Hyunjin—because the one time he got caught trying out a new trick at home, he immediately received a message from Seungmin saying _'princess, don't be stubborn.'_ Hyunjin didn't talk to Chan for the rest of that day.)

On a side note, he and Seungmin continue to receive hate in many different ways. If he's being honest, though, having experienced two _very_ problematic situations over the course of a semester still doesn't make him any more used to them—if anything, he's anxious that there could be worse.

Once, he wondered how Chan and Jisung don't seem to be receiving hate like they were, when they're just as popular among the students as he and Seungmin—and all the couple told him was that, in fact, they do.

 _'Pretend it doesn't exist and it'll be like it really doesn't,'_ Jisung advised.

Truthfully, the only reason he finally manages to follow Jisung's advice at all within the duration of a single week is because he's reached the point of not having the energy to even think about the hate anymore, too busy feeling frustrated over the miniscule amount of time he gets to spend with Seungmin without it having to be involved with studying. ( _At least this torture brought about something good,_ he constantly convinces himself.)

Granted, it really does help him not make a fool out of himself during the actual exams and even ace most of them, but Hyunjin's petty enough to keep sulking even after exam week, where the Seungmin ban should already be lifted.

So as soon as Hyunjin steps out of his last class that day and sees Seungmin waiting for him outside, he simply hands the redhead all of his exam papers without looking him in the eye, lips pursed childishly to the side as he puffs up a cheek.

After a while of silence, though, he dares himself to take a peek and sees Seungmin smiling down at his exam papers and then up at him—and he easily gets fazed at that, cheeks warming just the slightest bit.

He's confused for a while when Seungmin doesn't say anything and just snaps his fingers, for some reason, until he eventually notices the papers in the boy's hand catching fire, the flame quickly growing bigger in just a few seconds and he _panics—_ until Seungmin turns and spins them, and with a swift flip, the fire's gone, and so are his papers.

When he comes to his senses, he instead finds a bouquet of sunflowers in Seungmin's hands.

Hyunjin gawks very gracefully.

"Well done, little sunshine," Seungmin chuckles fondly, holding it out to him with a soft smile.

... Screw it.

He really, _really_ can't bring himself to stay mad.

"You are unfair," he huffs, carefully taking the bouquet into his hands. "I wasn't allowed to practice anything while you were out there practicing this trick this whole time," he continues, forcing back the small smile threatening to form on his lips as he brings the flowers closer to his face to sniff them.

"I'm not the one who got suspended for a week, Hyunjin," Seungmin remarks, arm naturally settling around Hyunjin's waist as he gently tugs him close to his side, pressing a kiss to the side of his head.

Hyunjin looks down with a shy smile and lets himself be guided out of the building. "Stop being so boyfriend material."

"Uh-huh," Seungmin responds nonchalantly, busy scaring the other students away with a threatening look as they walk ahead. "Like I said, you also tell me to stop teasing—"

Hyunjin brings a heel up and down onto Seungmin's toes, eliciting out a quiet yelp from the other boy. "Keep that up and I'll stop coming over and letting you come over altogether. I've survived two weeks straight with this arrangement I can survive it _forever—_ "

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, babe," Seungmin interrupts, not sounding sorry at all as he leans in and casually plants another kiss onto his cheek, which easily flusters him once more. "You're still cranky. It's cute."

"Of course I am!" Hyunjin exclaims, as he hugs the bouquet close to his chest and attempts to hide his reddened face by looking down grumpily at the sunflowers instead. "Now tell me where we're eating!"

"Alright, love."

Hyunjin widens his eyes and blushes even darker.

 _Love._ Has a nice ring to it.

"We're eating at this new fast food restaurant across the street."

And Hyunjin almost drops the flowers as he gasps loudly, jaws dropping as he stares at Seungmin in disbelief. "No way. The one that just opened yesterday?" Seungmin nods. "We're eating there? Fast food? Burgers, fries, soda and all?" And another nod.

"Oh my God! It's really happening! I _love_ you!"

Seungmin barks out a laugh at that, and Hyunjin ultimately falls silent, stunned by the sight of his bright, pretty smile; unrestrained and... free.

Oh.

"I love you too, Hyunjin."

 _... Oh,_ he finds himself slowing down to a stop, breath catching in his throat as he stares at the other boy like a lovesick fool, eyes widened just a little in wonder.

"You alright?" Seungmin stops walking too, concerned, brows furrowing just the slightest bit. "Everything okay?"

"... Yeah," he lets out a breathy chuckle, biting down on his lip before grinning widely and nodding. "Yeah. Everything's great."

Seungmin turns even more confused, but Hyunjin's arms are already finding their way around the boy's neck before he realizes it, pulling him closer until their lips meet for a soft kiss.

He finally has everything he ever wished for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seungmin cannot, for the life of him, understand why baking is the way it is.

Frustrating.

He slams his spatula down onto the counter and crosses his arms. "I can't. It won't even out. I'm not doing this anymore."

Chris shakes his head at him, amused, opening the oven before gently nudging him aside to take the cake pan into his hands and placing it inside. "It's already evened out, C," he laughs, closing the oven carefully. "You just don't like that it doesn't look perfect."

Seungmin purses his lips to the side as he sets the timer, still annoyed.

Today, as Chris and Jinyoung _very constantly_ reminded him about, is his and Hyunjin's one-hundred days anniversary—which, apparently, is a big deal when it comes to relationships. ( _"It's a huge deal, Cheri! A huge. Deal. Don't mess this up,"_ Jinyoung had briefed him over and over.)

Unsurprisingly, Seungmin has absolutely no idea how these things are even supposed to be celebrated and had to ask both of them for help—which caused a pretty big misunderstanding between him and Hyunjin when the boy found out he'd been out for dinner with the two of them instead of with him one Saturday, to do a brainstorming of sorts. (Seungmin is a little concerned about the fact that Hyunjin can easily believe he's dating both Chris and Jinyoung, because _'they're heartthrobs like that and you're literally everyone's type!'_ )

In the end, Jinyoung had to lie about the three of them having plans to produce a song together and wanting to keep it a secret from Hyunjin because he is, after all, still Jinyoung's number one fan. Hyunjin immediately felt bad and apologized for about a couple dozen times.

The three of them eventually settled with having a group chat that the two older males so happily named _'Cheri's Go-To Guide to Romance!'_

One of the plans Jinyoung came up with (which was just barely finalized yesterday) is that Seungmin, with Chris' help, will be making Hyunjin's most favourite pastry by hand, because _'it's romantic like that,'_ according to them. Jinyoung just so happens to have a show on the same day in the afternoon at a venue nearby, so they used that as an excuse to make Hyunjin go out.

(Hyunjin almost fainted out of happiness, after Jinyoung gave him his long-awaited new album with Seungmin's song for him in it—signed by both him and Seungmin—and told him that inside it was also a free pass for a seat in the VIP section.)

Therefore, an hour ago, Mark and Jinyoung had already gone over to Hyunjin's to pick him up, and as soon as the coast was clear, Chris also left the house to go and help Seungmin.

By the time Hyunjin and Jinyoung get back, Seungmin should already be finished with the whole baking process—but at this rate, after having rendered their first two cake batters useless and wasting a significant amount of time, he doesn't think he will.

How was he supposed to know flour should be sifted first and that there was such a thing as overmixing? He learned _none_ of that in high school. ( _"No, you purposely skipped your cooking class whenever it came to baking,"_ he hears Jinyoung's scolding voice in his head and ignores it.)

"We won't make it in time," he grumbles, turning around defeatedly. "I'll just buy some outside."

"No, you will not," Chris chides immediately. "And that is final. Now get over here so you can start with the frosting."

"... Does it involve more mixing."

"Yes."

Seungmin promptly high tails out of the kitchen.

"I— _Cheri!_ Come back here this instant!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seungmin ends up working hard on it anyway.

"It's for Hyunjin. It's for Hyunjin. It's for _Hyunjin,_ " Chris supportively chants for him by his side as he, with his tongue sticking out to the side in concentration, holds a chocolate-coated cake pop in one hand and pours sprinkles on it with the other.

And, with a big heave of breath, he sticks it into the last remaining pit of the three-tier cake pop stand before dropping down onto the chair by the table tiredly as Chris cheers and claps for him. "Yes, you did it!"

"Hooray," he deadpans, staring at the colourful, almost daunting display sitting in front of him, silently wondering how a pastry so pretty could involve an experience so agonizing. He could have sworn he was just about near throwing all the sprinkles to the ground in frustration two minutes ago. "Why did I think this was a good idea? All Jinyoung hyung's ideas are bad ideas."

Chris pauses. "Well, I mean, he _does_ write songs."

"That doesn't count," his petty self answers. "Everything else he comes up with are just—"

"Seungminnie."

He instantly stills at the voice, eyes meeting Chris' in a silent question, who simply glances between him and behind him before responding with a goofy, dimpled smile with his lips pressed together—and Seungmin slowly turns around to see a grinning Hyunjin and Jinyoung standing by the dining room's entryway. (He holds back a snort when, for a moment there, his boyfriend and his only family looked exactly alike.)

"Seungminnie!" Hyunjin squeals and bounces over, and Seungmin stands up right away, catching the boy into his arms with a small smile. "Seungminnie, we were watching you through the window for the past half hour!"

Seungmin pauses, and he peers over Hyunjin's shoulder to glance impassively at Jinyoung, who only picks up the camera slung around his neck—which he only now recognizes to be Hyunjin's, much to his horror—and grins smugly.

"You know, I really thought I'd end up seeing you in a froufrou apron with flour on your cheeks and there'd be mess everywhere," Hyunjin giggles, pulling away to brush Seungmin's fringe back adoringly. "But you're just so princely in everything you do."

Chris lets out a slightly high-pitched _'weeell,'_ so Seungmin shoots him a pointed look and narrows his eyes, effectively shutting him up. He turns back to Hyunjin. "I only threw the spatula four times and messed up the cake batter twice. I lost count of how many sticks I broke into half, but—"

"I love you so much," Hyunjin suddenly breathes out and catches Seungmin by surprise, biting down on his bottom lip before smiling a little shyly. "I... I know you don't like baking, Seungminnie," he pauses, giggling silently and cupping Seungmin's cheeks in his hands to stop him from glaring at Jinyoung before gently making him look back at him instead. "And it made me extremely happy to see you going through all the trouble and working so hard to do it for me anyway. Oh! I also tried counting; I think you broke about thirty sticks."

He then gets shushed with a finger to his lips before he gets to say anything to that, and Hyunjin proceeds with a soft smile. "And you did great. You're the sweetest, my prince. Thank you."

With that, he receives a gentle smooch onto his lips and a tight hug, and though he attempts to continue glaring at Jinyoung as he hugs the boy back, the smile that slowly makes its way to his face easily defeats him anyway, as he hears the boy starting to sniffle quietly.

"Anything for you, little sunshine."

 

 

 

 

 

 

"How does this taste so good?" Hyunjin cries through an already empty stick still in between his teeth, wailing as Chris slides the cake pop stand away from him when he tries reaching for more.

"Hyunjins, no. You've had five already. I'm gonna wrap the rest so you can eat them for later."

Hyunjin whines, turning to Seungmin with a pout. "Seungminnie, he's being mean!"

"Well," Seungmin blinks, carefully thumbing away some sprinkles from the corner of the boy's lips and smiling when the latter pushes his lips out further to smooch his thumb affectionately. "We have a date to go to, baby boy."

Hyunjin's eyes instantly sparkle as he gasps. "Oh my God, you're right!"

At that, Seungmin's brows rise up to his forehead as he shares baffled looks with Chris and Jinyoung, who look just as lost as he is.

Hyunjin turns to completely face Seungmin now, pulling out something from his pocket before opening his fist to reveal a handful of tiny, ripped up pieces of paper, flashing Seungmin a bright grin.

"So, for our one-hundred days," he starts, crumpling it all up into his palms and clasping his hands together, before slowly spreading out a couple of now whole pieces of paper with his index fingers and thumbs. "I got us movie tickets!"

Seungmin's mouth slightly falls open.

"I've been planning this for weeks, so I'm so glad we're both free! I know you like action films a lot, and this one's in 3D—plus, we get to have couple seats! Oh—and it starts at three, so we should get going soon."

And it's silent for a while, with only Chris and Jinyoung's padded footsteps being heard as they awkwardly exit the scene.

Hyunjin glances at them and back at Seungmin, tilting his head. "What's wrong?"

Pressing his lips together, Seungmin takes out his phone and shows Hyunjin a photo of a movie poster, and the latter looks puzzled for a moment, until Seungmin uses his other hand to magically pull out two small pieces of paper right from the center of his screen, showing it to the boy.

"Whoa, that was really cool! I—" Hyunjin stops, blinking rapidly for a few times and taking a closer look. "Oh."

Seungmin bought them movie tickets for a romance film.

One that Hyunjin had—according to Chris—been looking forward to watch all year.

It has couple seats, free wine... and it starts at three.

 

 

 

(They end up at the cinema later on, laughing their heads off as they walk in and out between the two theatres every fifteen minutes, hand in hand, for the next two hours.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's the first day of their second semester.

Seungmin wakes up to a kiss from Jinyoung, a bunch of excited messages from his seven friends, a sweet voice mail from his princess, and a smile on his face.

When he arrives at the university, he's not surprised to see Hyunjin from afar, crouching down to his knees to talk to a little girl with a gentle grin on his face and pulling out a cake pop from behind her ear, to which she gasps in delight and takes it happily, giving him a hug before giggling her way to her own building.

Seungmin smiles softly, watching the boy stand back up straight and start heading to class, and he follows him quietly from a few feet away, proudly watching Hyunjin give no mind to all the stares and whispers that, as they've both accepted, will never truly disappear—until they reach their classroom. (They have five classes together now, and Seungmin has a feeling it's a certain pair of student council members' doing.)

As soon as Hyunjin settles himself on a chair by the window, Seungmin takes the seat beside him and finally catches the boy's attention.

"Seungminnie!" Hyunjin squeals, turning in his seat to quickly peck Seungmin's cheek. "Good morning!"

"Good morning, Hyunjin," he chuckles, reaching over to gingerly caress the boy's cheek with the back of his hand.

It still makes Hyunjin blush.

The sudden sound of his stomach growling loudly makes him blush even harder, however. "... I'm not hungry. That wasn't me. I totally ate my breakfast!"

"You gave it to a little girl."

"I gave it to a little girl," he mumbles defeatedly through a pout, folding his legs up to his chest and hugging his knees in this adorable, childlike manner. "She looked so sad. I just wanted to make her smile."

At that, the memory of a single rose, a friendly smile and a quiet _'hi'_ suddenly flashes right before his eyes—and Seungmin's breath is taken away, heart racing as his eyes gaze at the boy that has now become the love of his life.

_I wanted to make you smile._

And, as he conjures up another cake pop—one he finally managed to make on his own—with a flick of his hand, watches the way Hyunjin's face lights up and breaks out into the brightest, prettiest smile, Seungmin lets himself fall in love all over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [**trivias**](https://10-43.carrd.co) | [**a message for u**](https://2minqueen.tumblr.com/post/187084464903/thank-you)
> 
> these past eight months have been amazing, thank you so much for all the support, everyone! ♡
> 
> [tumblr](https://seungjin-chan.tumblr.com/ask) | [twitter](https://www.twitter.com/seungjin_chan) | [curiouscat](https://www.curiouscat.me/seungjin_chan)


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